Police around the world receive special training from a well-known service of the European Unions for the best way to track the iPhone and Apple devices in general, according to documents that was released η Privacy International.
The records reveal that CEPOL, an EU law enforcement agency, has instructed officers around the world, from Europe to Africa, on how to use malware and other tools. These tools can be used to access citizens' phones and monitor social networks. In some cases, the training was funded by EU funds and went to countries with a history of human rights violations, according to Privacy International.
Furious over previous covert surveillance initiatives rather than protecting people from it, Privacy International and other human rights groups are calling for immediate reform, demanding that hacking training money be diverted to more altruistic programs.
The revelations came days after the European Parliament announced plans to curb exports of espionage tools that could be used for human rights abuses.
European Parliament MEP Markéta Gregorová, who helped set up EU reforms covering surveillance tool exports, told Forbes:
"We just made it a lot more difficult export of cyber surveillance tools and it is unacceptable that our own law enforcement agencies train dictators to spy on their people and even recommend surveillance software. This is unacceptable and incompatible with our values and actions for reform. "
