The State Department said this week it is implementing a new policy creating visa restrictions for people who use commercial spyware technology for illicit purposes.
“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 State Department said. “The misuse of commercial spyware threatens privacy and freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.”
Under the new policy, the State Department will evaluate potential users of spyware tools and determine if they or their family members should be denied a visa to enter the U.S.
That process also will target people “developing, directing, or operationally controlling companies that furnish technologies such as commercial spyware to governments, or those acting on behalf of governments,” the agency said.
The decision builds on an executive order issued by the White House last year that prohibits the Federal government from utilizing spyware technology that could potentially pose a risk to national security.
Spyware misuse, the State Department said, “has been linked to arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings in the most egregious of cases.”
“Additionally, the misuse of these tools presents a security and counterintelligence threat to U.S. personnel,” the agency said. “The United States stands on the side of human rights and fundamental freedoms and will continue to promote accountability for individuals involved in commercial spyware misuse.”
