WSJ....
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Monday authorizing sanctions on those using information technology to conduct human-rights abuses in Iran and Syria.
The order targets people and entities that have operated — or directed the operation of — information and communication technology that facilitates network disruption, monitoring or tracking that could assist in or enable human rights abuses by the Iranian and Syrian governments.
“This novel sanctions tool allows us to sanction not just those oppressive governments, but the companies that enable them with technology they use for oppression and the ‘digital guns for hire’ who create or operate systems used to monitor, track, and target citizens for killing, torture, or other grave abuses,†the White House said in a fact sheet it issued along with the executive order.
The U.S., under the order, designated the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, its director, Syrian communication firm Syriatel, Iran’s intelligence ministry, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s law enforcement and Iranian Internet service provider Datak Telecom.
All but Datak Telecom were previously designated for U.S. sanctions under other executive orders, according to a fact sheet (pdf) provided by Treasury. Datak Telecom has, over the last two years, facilitated ongoing surveillance of Iran-based users of a popular email service in a bid to monitor and track the activity of its users, Treasury said.
The order was released in conjunction with a visit by Obama to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, during which he announced broader steps to combat mass atrocities.
Iran and Syria have disrupted the free flow of information to prevent protesters from organizing, having observed how technology, from cell phones to Facebook, helped protesters coalesce and oust autocratic regimes in Libya, Yemen and Egypt.
“These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them,†Obama said. “And it’s one more step we can take toward the day that we know will come–the end of the Assad regime.â€
Obama said the administration’s Atrocities Prevention Board, made up of members across government, would meet for the first time on Monday. The board, ordered last August under a presidential study directive, is aimed at creating prevention strategies that establish a better way for the U.S. to work with allies to stop early or prevent atrocities.
“Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the U.S.,†the directive said. “America’s reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide.â€
The order targets people and entities that have operated — or directed the operation of — information and communication technology that facilitates network disruption, monitoring or tracking that could assist in or enable human rights abuses by the Iranian and Syrian governments.
“This novel sanctions tool allows us to sanction not just those oppressive governments, but the companies that enable them with technology they use for oppression and the ‘digital guns for hire’ who create or operate systems used to monitor, track, and target citizens for killing, torture, or other grave abuses,†the White House said in a fact sheet it issued along with the executive order.
The U.S., under the order, designated the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, its director, Syrian communication firm Syriatel, Iran’s intelligence ministry, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s law enforcement and Iranian Internet service provider Datak Telecom.
All but Datak Telecom were previously designated for U.S. sanctions under other executive orders, according to a fact sheet (pdf) provided by Treasury. Datak Telecom has, over the last two years, facilitated ongoing surveillance of Iran-based users of a popular email service in a bid to monitor and track the activity of its users, Treasury said.
The order was released in conjunction with a visit by Obama to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, during which he announced broader steps to combat mass atrocities.
Iran and Syria have disrupted the free flow of information to prevent protesters from organizing, having observed how technology, from cell phones to Facebook, helped protesters coalesce and oust autocratic regimes in Libya, Yemen and Egypt.
“These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them,†Obama said. “And it’s one more step we can take toward the day that we know will come–the end of the Assad regime.â€
Obama said the administration’s Atrocities Prevention Board, made up of members across government, would meet for the first time on Monday. The board, ordered last August under a presidential study directive, is aimed at creating prevention strategies that establish a better way for the U.S. to work with allies to stop early or prevent atrocities.
“Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the U.S.,†the directive said. “America’s reputation suffers, and our ability to bring about change is constrained, when we are perceived as idle in the face of mass atrocities and genocide.â€
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