Austria, Estonia, Lithuania and the Netherlands on Sunday joined a U.S.-led pact designed to deter global spyware abuses, marking 21 nations signing onto the agreement after the alliance began with 11 participants in March of last year.
The add-ins were fleshed out on the sidelines of the United National General Assembly, a State Department release said. The announcement follows a U.S. move last week that levied sanctions on members of the Intellexa Consortium, a confederation of firms known for crafting and selling advanced surveillance tools to private companies and sovereign nations.
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Source: NextGov News
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