A Dutch member of the European Parliament has backed a move to restrict the export of surveillance software such as FinFisher and others, which are used by some governments and law-enforcement agencies to monitor their citizens’ activities.

Marietje Schaake has backed dubbed Stop Digital Arms which calls upon members of the European Union “to give the European Commission the mandate to draft the laws and develop initiatives necessary to stop digital arms trade.”

If the plan is supported by the EU it should cause a few headaches for Gamma International UK, which sells the FinSpy and FinFisher software used by various governments around the world. FinFisher command-and-control servers are being used in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, among many others. The fear is that they are being used by the spooks to spy on citizens.