On Monday, the United States Bureau of Industry and Security amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding Sandvine, a Canada-based company, to the Entity List. The Entity List is essentially a compilation of entities believed to be involved in activities that contradict or divert from the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.
Authorities added Sandvine to the list after receiving information regarding its strategic technological support to the Egyptian government. Evidently, this technology has been resourceful for the Egypt government in their efforts to monitor a majority of web traffic and to censor specific news outlets along with political rights activists. This sequence of action contradicts S. 744.11 of the EAR, leading to the inclusion of Sandvine into the Entity List.
In justifying this decision, Alan F. Estevez, Under Secretary for Industry and Security, stated:
“The United States and our allies and partners are global leaders in innovation, and we must also be global leaders when it comes to living up to our shared values. Today’s additions to the Entity List demonstrate that we will not hesitate to act to ensure that powerful, commercially available technologies aren’t being used contrary to our values, which include standing against censorship, surveillance, and repression.”
Other than Canada, Sandvine has offices in India, Japan, Sweden, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates – all of which now feature in the newly-amended entity list. As per the norms, the Bureau of Industry and Security might consider removing an entity from the list if the entity discontinues participating in such controversial practices or if the said entity no longer presents a significant risk to the interests of the United States of America.
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