By Casey Michel
Further information emerges on Western companies selling surveillance tools to oppressive Central Asian regimes.
A few months ago, The Diplomat wrote a piece about surveillance practices and programs in Central Asia. Working from an in-depth report from Privacy International [PDF], it didn’t take much digging to find Western companies – including U.S.-based Verint Systems and the Israel-based NICE Systems – guilty of selling Central Asian regimes programs to track citizens, opposition, and dissidents.
Now, we have further information about how these organizations funnel their wares to repressive Central Asian governments – as well as how much they’re paid in return. A massive hack earlier this month into the inner workings of Hacking Team, an Italy-based surveillance software manufacturer, pried some 400GB worth of data, including, according to Wired, “directories, audio recordings, emails and source code.” Prior to the leak Hacking Team’s proclivities had grown so pronounced that Reporters Without Borders placed the company on its Enemies of the Internet Index. Rumors of Hacking Team’s alleged improprieties have swirled for years, led most notably by Citizen Lab, which determined the company had sold its Remote Control Systems (RCS) to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Read the full story at The Diplomat