Washington: The US Department of Commerce is placing restrictions on a person and a company in the UAE for supplying Syria with internet-filtering devices made by California-based Blue Coat Systems Inc.
The measure restricts the company from receiving or transferring items that fall under US export controls. Neither the person named nor the company could be reached for comment.
The action is part of a Department of Commerce probe looking into how a set of at least 13 Blue Coat devices ended up censoring the internet in Syria, a country subject to strict US trade embargoes. Syrian authorities have been cracking down on uprisings in the country for months.
"It is vital that we keep technology that can be used to further the repression of the Syrian people out of the hands of the Syrian government," Eric L. Hirschhorn, Under Secretary for Industry and Security, said in a statement.
