Customer End-Use As they are positioned further up the value chain, the biggest risk area for B2B SaaS services is customer end-use. The end user of the service, which country they are in, and what they use the service for may lead to drastically different human rights impacts. Customer end-use encompasses the following factors: (1) the user of the service, including the company, industry, and geography, and (2) the use case. Company-Level Impacts • Businesses or governments may intentionally or unintentionally misuse SaaS services in ways that violate human rights. • Entities may use SaaS services in ways that enable the advancement of industries that harm the planet and society. • When used in high-risk contexts or markets, SaaS services may exacerbate all the impacts listed in this section. Examples of Company-Level Impacts SaaS Provider One: Government entities may use a CRM solution to surveil citizens. In a country with an authoritarian government and weak rule of law, this may create significant human rights risks which would not be present in the absence of the SaaS service. SaaS Provider Two: A company may use a software development tool to develop a messaging platform that is used by a malicious group to organize violent activities. SaaS Provider Three: A company may use an industrial modeling solution to create an oil rig, without any attempts to disrupt the ways in which the fossil fuel industry works; alterna- tively the solution could be used to create weapons. Cumulative Impacts • When integrated with other SaaS services, the combined use of technologies may lead to new ways of misuse that lead to human rights impacts. • When a group of SaaS providers decides not to work with a certain company or government, the following unintended consequences may result: – The company or government may choose to use less rights-respecting technology. – This decision may have impacts on the right to access scientific advancement and its benefits. 20 Human Rights Assessment of the Software-as-a-Service Sector