In 2019, the Special Rapporteur presented a report on targeted surveillance and the regulation of the public-private collaboration in the sale, transfer, use and after-sales support of surveillance technologies to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The private surveillance industry has thrived with low levels of transparency and public scrutiny and weak controls on transfers of technology. More often than not, governments offer limited information on the use of surveillance products and regulations of private surveillance companies. These challenges contribute to the lack of accountability for the human rights interferences suffered by direct targets of surveillance, as well as for victims of human rights violations facilitated by the use of surveillance technologies. In the face of these challenges, the Special Rapporteur proposes a human rights based legal and policy framework for the regulation and accountability of, as well as transparency within, the private surveillance industry.