US calls for sanctions against NSO Group and other spyware firms

Spyware firms like NSO Group are accused of aiding authoritarian regimes around the world

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Spyware firms like NSO Group are accused of aiding authoritarian regimes around the world

Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden said, "The Biden administration has the chance to turn off the spigot of American dollars and help put them out of business for good"

US lawmakers are calling for sanctions against NSO Group, the Israeli firm responsible for producing the Pegasus spyware - thought to have been used against more than 1,000 journalists, rights activists, and other individuals around the world.

In a letter to the Treasury Department and State Department seen by Reuters, a group of politicians (including Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden, House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff and 16 other Democrats) accuses NSO and three other foreign surveillance firms of helping authoritarian governments to commit human rights abuses.

France-based Nexa Technologies (formerly Amesys), Germany's Trovicor and Emirati company DarkMatter are also named in the letter. Nexa is already the subject of criminal investigations into the alleged sale of surveillance technologies used in rights violations in Egypt and Libya, while whistleblowers have accused DarkMatter of offensive cyber operations on behalf of the Emirati government, as well as hacking activists' phones.

The politicians asked for Global Magnitsky sanctions under the terms of the 2016 Global Human Rights Magnitsky Accountability Act, which enables the US to impose sanctions against those accused of enabling human rights abuses. These sanctions can include freezing bank accounts and banning travel to the USA.

According to the letter, the named companies indirectly aided the 'disappearance, torture and murder of human rights activists and journalists'.

Wyden told Reuters, "These surveillance mercenaries sold their services to authoritarian regimes with long records of human rights abuses, giving vast spying powers to tyrants. Predictably, those nations used surveillance tools to lock up, torture and murder reporters and human rights advocates. The Biden administration has the chance to turn off the spigot of American dollars and help put them out of business for good."

Spyware firms have drawn increasing scrutiny around the world, especially since news of NSO Group's widespread spyware installation broke earlier this year. Following that story, Amazon closed the company's infrastructure and Apple launched a lawsuit against it last month.