BIDEN SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO RESTRICT USE OF COMMERCIAL SPYWARE

Mon 27 March 2023:

President of the United States Joe Biden has signed an executive order limiting the use of commercial spyware by the government, which has been used to target political dissent globally.

The decision was made on Monday, more than a year after the Biden administration sanctioned the Israeli spyware company NSO Group, which has been at the forefront of discussions about the misuse of spyware around the world. Its Pegasus software has been implicated in the surveillance of numerous journalists, political figures, and proponents of human rights.

“Misuse of these powerful surveillance tools has not been limited to authoritarian regimes,” the White House said in a statement.

“Democratic governments also have confronted revelations that actors within their systems have used commercial spyware to target their citizens without proper legal authorization, safeguards and oversight.”

The order was announced as the US prepares to host a “summit for democracy” later this week. It includes exceptions for government agencies to use spyware programmes if the agency head determines that the software does not pose a counterintelligence or national security risk.

The decision also excludes spyware developed by government agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, both of which have a history of illegal surveillance.

However, human rights groups have warned that commercial spyware has made surveillance tools more widely available. Countries such as Mexico, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been accused of using the software to target journalists and human rights groups.

BREAKING News: 🇺🇸 @POTUS @WhiteHouse issues Executive Order: limits federal government use of commercial #spyware from vendors that target US persons + facilitate human rights violations / transnational repression…
https://t.co/Bps83z1XkZ

— profdeibert (@RonDeibert) March 27, 2023