[IRPCoalition] New Report: Current Export Controls for Surveillance Tools are Outdated and Ineffective

[Carolina Rossini]

sorry for cross-posting, but this might be of the interest of folks in
these lists

  *For Immediate Release*
Monday, March 24, 2014
*PRESS RELEASE* *New Report: Current Export Controls for Surveillance Tools
are Outdated and Ineffective*

*WASHINGTON, DC *-- Authoritarian governments have abused surveillance
technologies for political control, the suppression of the media and civil
society, and other violations of fundamental human rights.  Today, New
America's Open Technology Institute - in collaboration with Privacy
International in the United Kingdom, and Digitale Gesellschaft in Germany -
released a new report that examines export controls as a policy solution to
this problem.

Government regulation on the export of surveillance technology could help
prevent such technology from being acquired by end users with dubious human
rights records. The report provides an in-depth policy and technological
analysis of export control regimes in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the
United States, and finds that existing export control regulations have
become out-dated and have not kept up with new technology.

"It is clear that export controls need to be updated. The new controls on
surveillance technology agreed on among 41 states through the Wassenaar
Arrangement in December are an opportunity to do that," said Tim Maurer,
Research Fellow with New America's Open Technology Institute. "The U.S.
government has a unique chance when it implements the changes to set a
positive example for other countries."

Several governments have made efforts to impose export controls on
surveillance technologies, but a coordinated multilateral approach will be
necessary for export controls to be effective. That is why this report was
developed as a joint project among three organizations in three different
countries with a significant share of this market. "This report highlights
not only existing efforts to ensure this thriving industry is made
accountable, but also offers a blueprint forward," said Edin Omanovic,
Research Officer at Privacy International and co-author of the report.

The report is available online and was written by *Tim Maurer**,** Edin
Omanovic, and Ben Wagner. *The authors are available for interviews and
background briefings.

To read the full report, *Uncontrolled Global Surveillance: Updating Export
Controls to the Digital Age*, please click
here<http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/uncontrolled_global_surveillance_updating_export_controls_to_the_digital_age>
.
*Expert Contact*
Tim Maurer
Research Fellow, Open Technology Institute, New America
(202) 596-3612
maurer at newamerica.org <laitinen at newamerica.net>

*Media Contact*
Jenny Mallamo
Media Relations Associate, New America
(202) 596-3368
mallamo at newamerica.org <vanderlinde at newamerica.net>

###

*About New America*
New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that
invests in new thinkers and new ideas to address the next generation of
challenges facing the United States. To learn more, please visit us online
at www.newamerica.org <http://www.newamerica.net/>or follow us on Twitter
@NewAmerica <https://twitter.com/NewAmerica>.

*About the Open Technology Institute*
The Open Technology Institute (OTI) is a global pioneer in developing
innovative communications technologies and policies to enable communities
to fully participate in the global economy, and freely shape their
democracies. To learn more, please visit us online at
http://oti.newamerica.org and on Twitter @OTI <https://twitter.com/OTI>.





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