Electronic government surveillance has become a tool of modern conflicts, used, often indiscriminately, to spy on enemy combatants, foreign corporations and individuals, and domestic citizens alike, often with little restraint from domestic laws and even less regard for international ones. In the process, legitimate companies trying to provide innovative information technology products and services to their customers are facing demands from governments around the world to pervert their offerings for the sake of intelligence gathering. This environment requires the creation of international standards governing the collection of data to protect privacy and preserve the continued growth of the digital economy.
