US will work with allies to limit the export of surveillance tools to authoritarian governments



Kevin Lamarque is a reuter.

On the same day that a report was published on how NSO may have been used to target State Department officials, the Biden administration announced it would work with other countries to limit the export of technology to authoritarian governments. The White House wants to coordinate with allies on a code of conduct related to export-licensing policies. Information on tools used against dissidents would be shared by those involved in the effort.

At the upcoming Summit for Democracy, the Biden Administration will announce an effort. The private sector and national governments will meet in December to discuss some of the challenges facing democracies in the future. China and Russia were not invited to the meeting.

The officials told The Journal that the effort is in response to an increase in the use of digital tools. In the case of the People's Republic of China, technology is being used to control their population, according to an administration official. Some of the existing members of the Wassenaar Arrangement could be included in the effort.

The US government is already working to limit the export and resale of cyber intrusion software to China and Russia. At the end of October, the Commerce Department announced a new set of rules that will require companies that want to sell their hacking tools to countries of national security concern to obtain a license from the department before they can do so.

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