NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET — Despite signs that negotiators are moving to include industry-desired carveouts in controversial export controls meant to keep hacking tools out of the hands of repressive regimes, Christian Troncoso, director of policy at BSA | The Software Alliance, warns that such an outcome is not preordained. “I’m not sure that we are through the jungle just yet, there’s still significant work to be done,” he told MC.
The U.S. is trying to rewrite the portion of the little-known Wassenaar Arrangement that covers “intrusion software,” or tools used to infiltrate computer systems. The tech and security community convinced U.S. officials that the current language is dangerously broad, potentially implicating tools that researchers commonly use to probe for vulnerabilities in computer networks. So the Obama administration went back to the negotiating table seeking a carveout for these security tools.
