The United States will not issue visas to persons suspected of espionage: who will be affected by the new rule

The Biden administration is rolling out a new policy that would impose visa restrictions on foreign individuals involved in spyware. This is reported by VOANews.

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The administration's policy will apply to people who have been involved in the misuse of spyware to target individuals—journalists, activists, dissidents, members of marginalized communities, or the families of those who have been targeted. Visa restrictions could apply to people who facilitate or benefit financially from the misuse of such programs, officials said.

In general terms, spyware is software that can be installed on a device and used to monitor activity and/or collect potentially sensitive data. The term has been around since the 1990s, and the first spyware discovered was developed by criminals to steal passwords or financial information from devices. Spyware can be used to track the physical location of a device and record from a camera or microphone, reports Talos.

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“The United States remains concerned about the growing misuse of spyware around the world to restrict the free flow of information and abuse human rights,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“The misuse of such programs threatens privacy and freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. Such programs have been linked to arbitrary detentions, disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the most egregious cases,” he explained.

Almost a year ago, Biden issued an executive order limiting the US government's use of spyware "that poses a threat to national security."

The order required the head of any U.S. agency using such programs to certify that they do not pose a significant counterintelligence or other security threat.

Who will not be given a visa?

It is not clear whether the visa restrictions will affect anyone in particular.

Officials said the visa restriction policy could apply to citizens of any country found to be abusing or facilitating the malicious use of spyware. This rule applies even to citizens of countries who are allowed to enter the United States without first applying for it.

Perhaps the most famous example of spyware is the Pegasus software from the Israeli group NSO. This program, according to a July 2021 study, has been used to attack more than 1000 people in 50 countries.

The United States has already imposed export restrictions on NSO Group, limiting the company's access to American components and technologies.

Pegasus spyware was used in Jordan to hack into the mobile phones of at least 30 people, including journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and political activists, digital rights group Access Now reported last week.

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According to Access Now, the spyware, created by the Israeli group NSO, monitored data from 2019 to September last year.

Amnesty International said its forensic experts learned that Pegasus spyware was installed on the phone of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, just four days after he was killed at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018. .

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