The US State Department is imposing visa restrictions on 13 people involved in the development and sale of commercial spyware, as well as their spouses and children.
“These individuals facilitated or financially benefited from the misuse of this technology, which targeted journalists, academics, human rights defenders, dissidents, and other perceived critics, as well as U.S. government personnel,” according to a report Press release by the department released yesterday. This is the first implementation of a spyware-related visa restriction program announced in February.
Visa restrictions mean the State Department can deny entry to the United States to any person under the order. The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the government to combat the Commercial spyware used by authoritarian governments, which in his opinion constitutes a violation of human rights. NSO Group’s infamous Pegasus mobile tracking tool, for example, has been implicated in a number of attacks on civil society by repressive regimes, the United States said.
Other efforts have included restrictions on the use of commercial spyware by the US government, export controls and sanctionsand private-public threat intelligence partnership.