Syllabus: GS2/IR
Context
- Modern internet infrastructure is dominated by a few companies, increasingly indispensable to governments.
- Misuse of their infrastructure highlights gaps in export control regimes, originally designed for physical goods.
What are export control regimes?
- These are international agreements where countries control the export of sensitive goods and technologies.
- Aim: To stop misuse like for weapons of mass destruction.
| Multilateral Export Control Regimes – Nuclear Suppliers Group: Formed in 1974, this regime seeks to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment, and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. – Australia Group: It was established in 1985 prompted by Iraq’s use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). 1. Australia, concerned with Iraq’s development of chemical weapons, recommended harmonization of international export controls on chemical weapons precursor chemicals. – Missile Technology Control Regime: Founded in 1987, this regime aims to limit the proliferation of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction. 1. India joined the MTCR in 2016. |
The Wassenaar Arrangement
- The WA, formally established in 1996, aims to promote “transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies.
- Nature: Multilateral voluntary export control regime for conventional arms and dual-use technologies.
- Mechanism: Participating states commit to control lists and information exchange, while retaining national discretion.
- 2013 Expansion: Added controls on intrusion software and cyber-surveillance systems.
- Limitation: It was designed for physical items (chips, devices) and not for cloud and online services.
- India joined Wassenaar Arrangement in 2017.
Problems in the Cloud Era
- The definition of export is old: It was earlier meant for shipping goods or downloading software.
- Now the services run on the cloud and users only access functions remotely; these are not covered under the WA.
- Voluntary rules: Any country can block changes.
- National laws differ which leads to patchy rules and loopholes.
- Focus Area: Focus has been on weapons, not on misuse of tech for surveillance and repression.
Needed Reforms
- Expand scope: To make the Wassenaar Arrangement more useful today, it needs to cover more technologies like regional biometric systems or cross-border policing data.
- To control these properly, rules should set limits on how powerful the technology can be and allow safe, legitimate uses under strict licenses and safeguards.
- Update export definition: The Arrangement should treat remote access and admin rights as exports if they allow use of controlled technology.
- Unlike traditional controls (which focus on weapons), cloud and surveillance tech can be misused for human rights violations.
- So, a license to use a technology should consider: what the tech can do, who is using it, where, under what rules, and how risky it is.
- Make regime binding: The Arrangement’s voluntary nature is a weakness in high-risk settings.
- States should instead adopt a binding treaty or framework with obligations that include mandatory minimum standards for licensing, mandatory export denial in atrocity-prone jurisdictions, and supervision by peer review.
- Enhance cooperation: National authorities shall share information, align licensing, maintain shared watchlists, real-time red alerts.
- Agility and Domain-specific Regimes: Cloud and AI technologies change very fast, so the Wassenaar Arrangement also needs to adapt quickly.
- This could be done by creating a special technical committee that can suggest urgent updates, speed up important controls, and get advice from experts.
- Possibly establish separate regimes for AI, digital surveillance, cyber weapons.
Way Ahead
- Some powerful countries may oppose stricter cloud export rules, saying they hurt innovation, sovereignty, or private business.
- It’s also complicated to classify cloud systems, set thresholds, separate safe vs risky uses, and manage cross-border licensing.
- Still, progress is possible. Some EU countries are already adding national export rules for advanced technologies that the Arrangement doesn’t fully cover.
- For example, the EU now treats cloud services like dual-use technology in its rules.
- The Wassenaar Arrangement is still important but outdated. Unless updated for cloud, SaaS, and AI, it cannot stop misuse of modern technologies for surveillance and human rights violations.
Source: TH
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News In Short – 29 September, 2025
