July 26, 2023
Today, Professor Kaye conveyed his view to the ABA House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the association, on the proposed Resolution 508 of the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, which calls for a moratorium on the sale, purchase, transfer, servicing, and use of commercial spyware until a robust international regulatory framework is put in place. Aligned with his consistent position taken since 2019, he expressed that the moratorium is a critical step in rooting human rights compliance in digital surveillance practice across the globe. The Resolution will be considered at the ABA’s Annual Meeting to be convened early next month.
His letter, with the appreciation of the ABA’s commitment to human rights protection, explains why the spyware industry’s argument against stringent regulation, relying on harm to U.S. interests, does not align with the basic legal framework of human rights protection. The letter also highlights the poor quality of the spyware industry’s voluntary human rights compliance systems — if it can be called that —, which increases the need for a moratorium.
You can find the full letter here. International Justice Clinic’s works on digital surveillance can be found here.