WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - Firefox browser maker Mozilla is blocking the United Arab Emirates' government from serving as one of its internet security gatekeepers, citing Reuters reports on a UAE cyber espionage program. Mozilla said it made the decision because cybersecurity firm DarkMatter would have administered the gatekeeper role and it had been linked by Reuters and other reports to a state-run hacking program. Former Raven operatives told Reuters that many DarkMatter executives were unaware of the secretive program, which operated from a converted Abu Dhabi mansion away from DarkMatter’s headquarters. Selena Deckelmann, Mozilla's senior director of engineering, said the reports from Reuters, as well as the New York Times and the Intercept, had made the browser company fear that DarkMatter would use the role of internet security gatekeeper to launch surveillance efforts. DarkMatter executives have argued that rejection of the UAE bid to become a certifying body would be a "dystopian" policy by Mozilla "against sovereign nations deemed not worthy of operating their own national certificates."
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