• Kumamoto accused that Jalisco’s government “hypocritically hosts events such as IGF” while doing illegal surveillance.
• Under Aristóteles Sandoval’s administration, the local government purchased and used Hacking Team’s malware.
• “The evidence suggests that Hacking Team’s malware was either a waste of taxpayers money or used illegaly without a warrant”, pointed out R3D’s executive director.

“Let’s occupy this space to demand consequences for any government that uses illegal surveillance – we are debating our right to privacy”, claimed today Pedro Kumamoto, the young independent Jalisco’s congressman. In the context of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), celebrated in the city of Zapopan, Jalisco, from November 6th to 9th, Kumamoto invited R3D (Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales) and Article 19 to discuss the results of the report “The State of Surveillance: Out of Control” in the Congress of Jalisco.

Luis Fernando García, R3D’s executive director, indicated that the Office of the Prosecutor in Jalisco (Fiscalía General del Estado de Jalisco, FGEJ) is one of the main authorities demanding access of metadata and real-time geolocation in Mexico. García also explained that Aristóteles Sandoval’s government spent 748.000€ in sophisticated malware from Hacking Team in 2014.

Paulina Gutiérrez, official of the digital program at Article 19, pointed out that “IGF does not reflect the reality in Mexico, that’s why we are here today at the Congress”, and she urged the congressmen to clarify the case. Kumamoto highlighted the incongruence of the government of Jalisco, “one who claims to be innovative, but hypocritically hosts events such as the IGF”, while doing illegal surveillance.

García showed that, between 2014 and 2015, the FGEJ asked for a warrant for communications intervention just two times. “Hence, in the best case scenario, the government spent 374.000€ in each intervention, a waste of taxpayers money; otherwise, the evidence suggests that the Hacking Team’s malware was used illegally, without a warrant. Either way, there are enough elements to investigate and sanction these acts”, explained the R3D’s director.

Kumamoto said that he wanted to send a message to the IGF’s organizators. “We will take this to the ultimate consequences”, Kumamoto stated, as he suggested that the responsables could be summoned to a hearing in the Congress. “We are not discussing something ethereal. We are debating the most sensitive thing in life, our privacy”, he concluded.

For further information about this case, please contact Carlos Brito at brito@r3d.mx.