According to the [2019 Report by United Nations' Special Rapporteur David Kaye](https://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/HRC/41/35&Lang=E), surveillance of individuals – often journalists, activists, opposition figures, critics and others exercising their right to freedom of expression – thrives because of weak controls on exports and transfers of surveillance technology to repressive governments. This surveillance is known to lead to arbitrary detention, sometimes to torture and possibly to extrajudicial killings.