"View on Private Sector: Spying tech and human rights", 6 Aug 2014

...Wong [senior researcher at Human Rights Watch] says that accountability mechanisms — both international law and how firms review sales — need to be amplified to ensure commercial technology is less likely to be used to contravene human rights. When selling surveillance technology to governments, companies must focus on "...what their human rights record is like and what the foreseeable consequences of selling this particular technology are", she says...One barrier to ensuring such companies perform due diligence prior to signing sales contracts is the lack of international regulation on this kind of new technology, Wong says...[T]he UN guiding principles on business and human rights can help companies monitor the human rights impact of a potential sale. But "we think that principles alone are not enough", she adds...[A]mid growing international recognition that guiding principles not backed up by regulation or third party monitoring won't be enough, support is growing for a more binding treaty on business and human rights...