The State Department placed 13 foreign citizens on an entry ban list: They were related to the surveillance… Does the announcement also apply to Greece?

Secretary Antony J. Blinken delivers remarks on the release of the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from the press briefing room at the Department of State in Washington, DC, April 22, 2024. On the right Spokesman Mathew Miller. Official State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy

He put it under a no-entry regime United States Department of State 13 individuals involved in the production and sale of malicious surveillance software such as Predator.

Specifically, the persons in question, as well as members of their families, will not be able to issue visas to visit the USA.

The State Department representative, Matthew Miller, states the above in a written statement. He notes that all of this is documented in the State Department’s Reports on Human Rights Practices, around the world.

In a statement issued by the representative of the US Ministry, the following are mentioned:

“As part of the United States’ efforts to address the continued proliferation and abuse of spyware, as documented today by the US State Department’s Human Rights Reports, the Department is taking steps to impose visa restrictions to 13 people who have been involved in the development and sale of spyware or who are family members of those involved.

These individuals have facilitated or profited financially from the misuse of this technology, which has targeted journalists, academics, human rights defenders, dissidents and other critics, as well as US government personnel.

The visa restrictions are part of a broader US government initiative to combat the spread and abuse of commercial spyware.

The initiative includes U.S. government restrictions on the use of spyware that endanger national security or human rights, export controls and sanctions, but also promoting accountability and engaging civil society and the private sector to identify innovative technological solutions to prevent and address such abuses, protect human rights defenders and strengthen the credibility of victims”.