The United States is joining 21 other countries to sign an agreement, abide non-binding, to regulate and limit the usage of commercial spyware.
The U.S. plans to sign an international agreement designed to govern the use of commercial spyware, the State Department said Thursday.
The announcement comes nearly a week after 21 countries signed a voluntary and non-binding Code of Practice outlining how they intend to jointly regulate commercial cyber intrusion capabilities (CCICs) and combat spyware companies whose products have been increasingly used to target civil society.
Recorded Future News first reported the publication of the Code of Practice, which is the result of a year of diplomatic negotiations known as the Pall Mall Process.
There is an exploding market for CCICs with abuses piling up.
Poland, Mexico, Greece, Spain and several other countries have experienced spyware scandals in recent years.
If countries had not acted, Pall Mall participants have said, an unchecked CCIC market would lead to continuing abuses of the technology.
Now, don’t expect anything at first. The Pall Mall Process is meant to kickstart a series of negotiations that will eventually lead to a formalized international treaty governing spyware use. So far, commercial spyware is mostly regulated through dual-use arms control export regulations and sanctions.