Biden order prohibits government use of commercial spyware
US President Joe Biden has issued an executive order prohibiting the US government from using any ‘commercial spyware that poses risks to national security’.
The 27 March directive from the White House comes amid stepped-up concerns among governments around the world over surveillance software that can secretly scoop up user data.
‘I hereby establish as the policy of the United States Government that it shall not make operational use of commercial spyware that poses significant counterintelligence or security risks to the United States Government or significant risks of improper use by a foreign government or foreign person,’ Biden said in the executive order.
Although the prohibition is not an outright ban, it indicates the mood in Washington, where in late February the White House gave federal agencies 30 days to delete the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices, on grounds that it collects user data that could end up in the hands of the Chinese government.
Biden’s executive order will require any agency using commercial spyware ‘to certify’ that the program does not pose a significant counterintelligence or other security risk.
