Persons involved in the misuse of commercial spyware will be subject to visa restrictions by authorities in the United States.
Through a statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has confirmed that the State Department is implementing a new visa policy that will permit the imposition of visa restrictions to those involved in such actions, VisaGuide.World reports.
Biden administration has introduced several measures in order to deal with the misuse of commercial spyware. Last year, the Biden administration signed an executive order banning federal agencies from using commercial spyware that poses risks to US national security or foreign policy interests.
The United States remains concerned with the growing misuse of commercial spyware around the world to facilitate repression, restrict the free flow of information, and enable human rights abuses. The misuse of commercial spyware threatens privacy and freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.
According to State Secretary Blinken, such targeting has been connected to arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, as well as extrajudicial killings in the most egregious of cases.
Through a statement, the US Department said that the misuse of these tools presents a security and counterintelligence threat to the United States personnel, stressing that the US stands on the side of human rights and fundamental freedoms and will continue to promote accountability for persons included in commercial spyware misuse.
The widespread use of commercial spyware has become a growing concern to the United States authorities. These technologies, created by companies such as NSO Group, Intellexa, and Cytrox, have been linked to human rights abuses around the world, according to a report from Cyberscoop.
According to a senior administration official, at least 50 US government employees are targeted by such espionage tools worldwide.
Last week, Human Rights Watch reported that two of its employees in Jordan were targeted by Pegasus, a surveillance tool sold by Israel’s NSO Group.
The sweeping targeting of dozens of Jordan-based activists and journalists is a stark reminder of the urgent need to safeguard digital rights and privacy. Governments will abuse surveillance technology with no hesitation or accountability until there are global norms and regulations to protect human rights in the digital age.
The targeting that violates the right to privacy started in October 2022 and succeeded briefly in infecting one of their mobile phones.