First modification:
The Congress of El Salvador approved on Tuesday a reform to the Criminal Procedure Code that creates the figure of the “digital undercover agent”. The green light from the legislators, with a pro-government majority, was rejected by journalists and opposition parties as they considered it a way to legalize espionage and an attack on freedom of expression.
The reform was voted on Tuesday by the Salvadoran Congress with 63 votes in favor and 17 against. This legalizes, among other things, the incorporation of “digital evidence” in criminal proceedings.
According to the regulations, evidence of this type is considered to be “digital documents, electronic messages, images, videos, data and any type of information that is received or transmitted through information and communication technologies or by means of any Electronic device”.
It will allow “necessary digital undercover operations” to be carried out for investigations, which means that, with the authorization of the attorney general, information can be collected through computer programs, without indicating precisely how it will affect citizens.
During the session of Congress, the ruling deputy Walter Coto argued in favor of the regulation by assuring that, until now, digital evidence was not regulated and that since “new technologies are innovating day by day”, “legislation must also modernize”, adding that “social networks are being used with the aim of committing criminal acts”.
On the other hand, Johnny Wright Sol, of the opposition party Nuestro Tiempo, assured that the reform “is the way to legalize espionage by digital means on government critics” and on journalists.
Social organizations express fear of the reform
Several social organizations have indicated their concern about the reform, such as the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), whose president, César Castro Fagoaga, is concerned about “the abuse and arbitrariness” that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police “may do with these investigations”, explaining that they lack necessary filters, among other things.
This Monday, he argued in a press conference that the new tools could be of great help, however he assured that “the evidence of how these institutions (Prosecutor’s Office and Police) have behaved in the past, makes them fully distrustful”, and He added that “in a way, what is being legalized is espionage.”
Deputy Claudia Ortiz said during the session that although “it is necessary for the legislation to innovate on these issues”, she considers that this is not the way to do it.
Ortiz recalled that several international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have invited the country to offer “effective guarantees for the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, especially for the practice of journalism and for the defenders of human rights”, adding that it cannot be “endorsed that more power be given to the State to get involved in the privacy of citizens in a context in which El Salvador is violating human rights”.
Amnesty International claimed to have verified the “use of the Pegasus program to monitor journalists” and human rights activists in El Salvador, according to the organization.
with EFE
First modification:
The Congress of El Salvador approved on Tuesday a reform to the Criminal Procedure Code that creates the figure of the “digital undercover agent”. The green light from the legislators, with a pro-government majority, was rejected by journalists and opposition parties as they considered it a way to legalize espionage and an attack on freedom of expression.
The reform was voted on Tuesday by the Salvadoran Congress with 63 votes in favor and 17 against. This legalizes, among other things, the incorporation of “digital evidence” in criminal proceedings.
According to the regulations, evidence of this type is considered to be “digital documents, electronic messages, images, videos, data and any type of information that is received or transmitted through information and communication technologies or by means of any Electronic device”.
It will allow “necessary digital undercover operations” to be carried out for investigations, which means that, with the authorization of the attorney general, information can be collected through computer programs, without indicating precisely how it will affect citizens.
During the session of Congress, the ruling deputy Walter Coto argued in favor of the regulation by assuring that, until now, digital evidence was not regulated and that since “new technologies are innovating day by day”, “legislation must also modernize”, adding that “social networks are being used with the aim of committing criminal acts”.
On the other hand, Johnny Wright Sol, of the opposition party Nuestro Tiempo, assured that the reform “is the way to legalize espionage by digital means on government critics” and on journalists.
Social organizations express fear of the reform
Several social organizations have indicated their concern about the reform, such as the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), whose president, César Castro Fagoaga, is concerned about “the abuse and arbitrariness” that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police “may do with these investigations”, explaining that they lack necessary filters, among other things.
This Monday, he argued in a press conference that the new tools could be of great help, however he assured that “the evidence of how these institutions (Prosecutor’s Office and Police) have behaved in the past, makes them fully distrustful”, and He added that “in a way, what is being legalized is espionage.”
Deputy Claudia Ortiz said during the session that although “it is necessary for the legislation to innovate on these issues”, she considers that this is not the way to do it.
Ortiz recalled that several international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have invited the country to offer “effective guarantees for the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, especially for the practice of journalism and for the defenders of human rights”, adding that it cannot be “endorsed that more power be given to the State to get involved in the privacy of citizens in a context in which El Salvador is violating human rights”.
Amnesty International claimed to have verified the “use of the Pegasus program to monitor journalists” and human rights activists in El Salvador, according to the organization.
with EFE
First modification:
The Congress of El Salvador approved on Tuesday a reform to the Criminal Procedure Code that creates the figure of the “digital undercover agent”. The green light from the legislators, with a pro-government majority, was rejected by journalists and opposition parties as they considered it a way to legalize espionage and an attack on freedom of expression.
The reform was voted on Tuesday by the Salvadoran Congress with 63 votes in favor and 17 against. This legalizes, among other things, the incorporation of “digital evidence” in criminal proceedings.
According to the regulations, evidence of this type is considered to be “digital documents, electronic messages, images, videos, data and any type of information that is received or transmitted through information and communication technologies or by means of any Electronic device”.
It will allow “necessary digital undercover operations” to be carried out for investigations, which means that, with the authorization of the attorney general, information can be collected through computer programs, without indicating precisely how it will affect citizens.
During the session of Congress, the ruling deputy Walter Coto argued in favor of the regulation by assuring that, until now, digital evidence was not regulated and that since “new technologies are innovating day by day”, “legislation must also modernize”, adding that “social networks are being used with the aim of committing criminal acts”.
On the other hand, Johnny Wright Sol, of the opposition party Nuestro Tiempo, assured that the reform “is the way to legalize espionage by digital means on government critics” and on journalists.
Social organizations express fear of the reform
Several social organizations have indicated their concern about the reform, such as the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), whose president, César Castro Fagoaga, is concerned about “the abuse and arbitrariness” that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police “may do with these investigations”, explaining that they lack necessary filters, among other things.
This Monday, he argued in a press conference that the new tools could be of great help, however he assured that “the evidence of how these institutions (Prosecutor’s Office and Police) have behaved in the past, makes them fully distrustful”, and He added that “in a way, what is being legalized is espionage.”
Deputy Claudia Ortiz said during the session that although “it is necessary for the legislation to innovate on these issues”, she considers that this is not the way to do it.
Ortiz recalled that several international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have invited the country to offer “effective guarantees for the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, especially for the practice of journalism and for the defenders of human rights”, adding that it cannot be “endorsed that more power be given to the State to get involved in the privacy of citizens in a context in which El Salvador is violating human rights”.
Amnesty International claimed to have verified the “use of the Pegasus program to monitor journalists” and human rights activists in El Salvador, according to the organization.
with EFE
First modification:
The Congress of El Salvador approved on Tuesday a reform to the Criminal Procedure Code that creates the figure of the “digital undercover agent”. The green light from the legislators, with a pro-government majority, was rejected by journalists and opposition parties as they considered it a way to legalize espionage and an attack on freedom of expression.
The reform was voted on Tuesday by the Salvadoran Congress with 63 votes in favor and 17 against. This legalizes, among other things, the incorporation of “digital evidence” in criminal proceedings.
According to the regulations, evidence of this type is considered to be “digital documents, electronic messages, images, videos, data and any type of information that is received or transmitted through information and communication technologies or by means of any Electronic device”.
It will allow “necessary digital undercover operations” to be carried out for investigations, which means that, with the authorization of the attorney general, information can be collected through computer programs, without indicating precisely how it will affect citizens.
During the session of Congress, the ruling deputy Walter Coto argued in favor of the regulation by assuring that, until now, digital evidence was not regulated and that since “new technologies are innovating day by day”, “legislation must also modernize”, adding that “social networks are being used with the aim of committing criminal acts”.
On the other hand, Johnny Wright Sol, of the opposition party Nuestro Tiempo, assured that the reform “is the way to legalize espionage by digital means on government critics” and on journalists.
Social organizations express fear of the reform
Several social organizations have indicated their concern about the reform, such as the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES), whose president, César Castro Fagoaga, is concerned about “the abuse and arbitrariness” that the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police “may do with these investigations”, explaining that they lack necessary filters, among other things.
This Monday, he argued in a press conference that the new tools could be of great help, however he assured that “the evidence of how these institutions (Prosecutor’s Office and Police) have behaved in the past, makes them fully distrustful”, and He added that “in a way, what is being legalized is espionage.”
Deputy Claudia Ortiz said during the session that although “it is necessary for the legislation to innovate on these issues”, she considers that this is not the way to do it.
Ortiz recalled that several international organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have invited the country to offer “effective guarantees for the right to freedom of expression and the right to privacy, especially for the practice of journalism and for the defenders of human rights”, adding that it cannot be “endorsed that more power be given to the State to get involved in the privacy of citizens in a context in which El Salvador is violating human rights”.
Amnesty International claimed to have verified the “use of the Pegasus program to monitor journalists” and human rights activists in El Salvador, according to the organization.
with EFE