Biden’s executive order has major global implications and essentially closes the market to certain spyware vendors and limits their access to the U.S., experts say, noting that companies will now think twice about who they do business with.
“The U.S. is one of the largest and most sought-out after-markets on technology,” said Michael De Dora, U.S. senior campaigner at Access Now, a non-profit digital rights advocacy group.
“And so spyware companies now have less purchasing power if one of the largest markets for their technologies is essentially closed off,” he said.
The spyware industry is estimated to be worth $12 billion; its largest vendor, NSO Group, an Israeli firm that manufactures and sells spyware known as Pegasus, is believed to be valued at more than $1 billion.
Pegasus has been heavily criticized for its role in multiple high-profile surveillance and international relations cases that have made headlines in recent years.
An NSO Group spokesperson told The Hill that the firm’s “technologies are only sold to allies of the U.S. and Israel, particularly in Western Europe, and are aligned with the interests of U.S. national security and governmental law enforcement agencies around the world.”
Last year, the firm announced that it was restructuring, a decision likely tied to the Department of Commerce’s decision to blacklist the company when it added it to its entities list in 2021.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
