WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A coalition of 21 nations have partnered to counter the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware.
The governments of Australia, Austria, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced a set of actions in a joint statement issued after a groundbreaking inaugural meeting on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
The representatives of these countries committed to work within their respective systems to establish robust guardrails and procedures to ensure that any commercial spyware use by their governments is consistent with respect for universal human rights, the rule of law, and civil rights and liberties.
The partners committed 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.
They agreed to share information on commercial spyware proliferation and misuse, including to better identify and track these tools.
The member nations will engage additional partner governments around the world, as well as other appropriate stakeholders, to better align their policies and export control authorities to collectively mitigate the misuse of commercial spyware and drive reform in this industry.
Commercial spyware has been misused across the world by authoritarian regimes and in democracies. Too often, such powerful and invasive tools have been used to target and intimidate perceived opponents and facilitate efforts to curb dissent.
Separately, the U.S. Department of State announced that it will host its first commercial spyware-focused Human Rights Council meeting on October 8. The event will bring together governments, civil society experts, and journalists who have been targeted with spyware. The meeting will discuss the growing risk that the misuse of such commercially available spyware tools poses to journalism, and how to protect journalists and their sources.
Later this fall, the Department of Commerce will take additional actions associated with its Entity List on problematic commercial spyware vendors.
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