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As Democracy Summit Wraps, US Restricts Exports of Cyber Tools Used for Repression


President Joe Biden delivers closing remarks to the virtual Summit for Democracy, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Dec. 10, 2021, in Washington.
President Joe Biden delivers closing remarks to the virtual Summit for Democracy, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Dec. 10, 2021, in Washington.

As the two-day virtual Summit for Democracy hosted by President Joe Biden wrapped up on Friday, the U.S., Australia, Denmark and Norway announced an export control program to monitor and restrict the spread of technologies used to violate human rights.

“We focused on the need to empower human rights defenders" and ensure that technology "is used to advance democracies to lift people up, not to hold them down,” Biden said during his closing remarks.

The Export Controls and Human Rights Initiative seeks to address the problem of authoritarian governments misusing dual-use technologies to surveil and hack into the communications of political opponents, journalists, activists and minority communities.

The signees will work to develop a voluntary, written code of conduct intended to use human rights criteria to guide export licensing policy and practices, according to the White House.

The goal is to achieve a stronger agreement involving more governments to better control licenses for these technologies that can be used to violate human rights, said a senior administration official in a briefing to reporters.

“To make sure that these technologies are used for good and not for ill,” the official said.

These restrictions are needed, said Brett Bruen, director of global engagement during the Obama administration and president of the consulting firm Global Situation Room.

“If indeed democratic ideals or, at the very least, less violation of human rights norms is what we are going to require and expect from countries around the world, then there have to be some consequences,” he said.

The U.S. has taken action recently to put NSO, an Israeli company and maker of the Pegasus spyware, on a list of restricted companies. Pegasus was used to infect the smartphones of journalists and officials, essentially turning them into spying devices, allowing the user to read the targets' messages and files, track their location, even turn on their cameras without their knowledge.

Initiative for Democratic Renewal

During the summit, leaders were encouraged to make pledges and commitments to bolster democracy and human rights.

For its part, the U.S. announced the establishment of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, a series of foreign assistance initiatives of up to $424.4 million in the coming year, subject to congressional approval.

The initiative includes funds to support independent media, strengthen anti-corruption efforts, empower reformers, labor unions and marginalized groups, and advance technology that supports democracy and defends free and fair elections.

Transparency International, a global civil society organization working in the fight against corruption, welcomed the initiatives and said the initial outcomes of the summit “show promise.”

“The world needs stronger partnerships between anti-corruption actors and more voices speaking up together,” said Andrea Rocca, Transparency International’s senior strategic partnerships manager, highlighting the effort to expand the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, a partnership between investigative journalists and civil society groups that documents and provides proof of corruption around the world.

But Bruen said $424.4 million would barely meet the needs of bolstering democracy globally and characterized it as “regifting.”

“These are initiatives and monies that have been allocated already, generally, for democracy, for the rule of law and human rights,” Bruen said. “They [the Biden administration] get to repurpose them for a new announcement but what we're not seeing here are really substantial sums that are being put on the table.”

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