PUBLICATION: AnalysisPolicy paper
SPYWARE: The Negation of Human Rights Under the Pretext of “Security”
The point of departure for this analysis was the idea that spyware, by its nature, is an indiscriminate, comprehensive and covert surveillance tool, structurally incompatible with the principles of necessity, proportionality and targeted data processing.
The Constitution, Criminal Procedure Code, Criminal Code, and the respective laws on intelligence services, electronic communication, personal data protection, and information security have already set forth rigorous conditions for conducting secret monitoring that spyware cannot meet in practice. International standards and comparative practice have confirmed significant differences: massive “collateral” collection of third-party data, undermining privacy; compromising professional secrecy and the protection of journalists’ sources; abuse of the pretext of “national security”; and the prevention of effective legal protection due to the secrecy of the measures.
In Serbia, there are already documented cases of targeting journalists and activists without any accountability for the persons responsible for that. The conclusion is self-explanatory: urgent prohibition of spyware is needed, as well as the prosecution of the so-far illicit practices.
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Tags: activists, data processing, human rights, security, Spyware
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DATE: 26.01.2026
TOPICS: BSCP, Challenges Risks and Threats, Cyber Security
TYPE: AnalysisPolicy paper
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