Nate Cardozo and Eva Galperin write:
On May 20, 2015, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published its proposed implementation of the December 2013 changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement. What follows is a long post, as we’re quite troubled by the BIS proposal. In short, we’re going to be submitting formal comments in response, and you should too.
What is the Wassenaar Arrangement?
The Wassenaar Arrangement is a multi-national agreement intended to control the export of certain “dual-use” technologies. It’s a voluntary agreement among 41 participating states that mostly regulates the export of guns, other weapons (such as landmines), and their components (such as fissile material). In December 2013, the list of controlled technologies was amended to include surveillance systems for the first time, in response to reports linking exports of Western surveillance technologies to human rights abuses in countries such as Bahrain and the UAE, Turkmenistan, and Libya.
Read more on EFF.