More Countries Join US in Export Control Commitments for Spyware Tech
The U.S. announced more countries signed on to a commitment to place export controls around spyware technology, part of an effort to raise trade guardrails for cyber-related items that can be used for human rights violations. The group, which now includes 17 nations, plans to meet this week to share best practices and exchange policy ideas for how they can better control technologies used for “malicious cyber activity.”
Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Poland and South Korea signed on to the commitment March 18, joining the U.S., Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. The original 11 countries first issued the statement during the Biden administration’s second annual Summit for Democracy last year (see 2303300054), where they outlined the importance of “strict domestic and international controls on the proliferation and use of such technology.”
As part of the updated commitment released during the third Summit for Democracy in Seoul this week, the 17 countries said they will work to prevent “the export of software, technology, and equipment to end-users who are likely to use them for malicious cyber activity, including unauthorized intrusion into information systems, in accordance with our respective legal, regulatory, and policy approaches and appropriate existing export control regimes.”
The group will meet March 19 in person for the first time, the State Department said, where it will “share best practices and lessons learned, and identify opportunities to most effectively counter the misuse of commercial spyware.” The countries “commit to working within their domestic systems to establish robust guardrails to counter the proliferation and misuse of this sophisticated surveillance technology,” the agency said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Seoul, said sharing best practices is an “incredibly powerful way” to make progress. “One of the things I’ve learned in 30 years of doing this is that, for pretty much any problem that we face, somewhere, someone has probably figured out an answer, or at least the beginnings of an answer,” he said. “But if we’re not sharing that information, then all of us have to continue to reinvent the wheel."
He also said the administration may place new restrictions on spyware technology that is specifically used to target the media and human rights advocates. “The United States is cracking down on the misuse of commercial spyware to surveil and harass journalists or human rights defenders and others -- including leveraging sanctions, export controls, visa restrictions to hold governments and firms accountable,” he said.