The U.S. government will restrict its use of commercial spyware tools that have been used to surveil human rights activists, journalists and dissidents around the world, under an executive order issued Monday by President Joe Biden.
FILE- A person types on a laptop keyboard in North Andover, Mass, June 19, 2017. The U.S. government will restrict its use of commercial spyware tools that have been used to surveil human rights activists, journalists and dissidents around the world, under an executive order issued Monday, Oct. 27, 2023, by President Joe Biden. – about programs that can capture text messages and other cellphone data.
The order will require the head of any U.S. agency using commercial programs to certify that the program doesn’t pose a significant counterintelligence or other security risk, a senior administration official said. “It is intended to be a high bar but also includes remedial steps that can be taken ... in which a company may argue that their tool has not been misused,” said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under White House ground rules.
John Scott-Railton, a researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab who has long studied spyware, credited the Biden administration for trying to set new global standards for the industry.
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