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US-Made Censorware Used To Oppress Burma

Posted by kdawson on from the doesn't-work-as-well-as-pulling-the-plug dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that US-made censorware is being used to oppress the people in many countries, including Burma. That in itself may not be surprising, but a more interesting point is that according to lawyers interviewed by the CS Monitor it appears to be legal — in spite of all the economic sanctions against the country, and even though people know it will be used to hush up any mention of things like attacks on peaceful protesters."

4 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. This is news? by scgops · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously, why would this surprise anyone?

    This just in, companies are legally selling the same Internet filtering software used by companies, libraries, etc., to Burma, and the government is using the software for its own purposes.

    Websense, one of the Internet filtering "censorware" companies mentioned in the article, had a partnership in place with Cisco starting over a decade ago to integrate URL filtering into Cisco PIX firewalls. That's how far from new this concept is. Burma could have bought all the parts they need used on eBay.

  2. Export restrictions mainly cover encryption by Airw0lf · · Score: 2, Informative

    I really don't understand why that's not illegal...isn't this why there are so many restrictions on where certain programs can be legally downloaded? That's usually due to encryption capabilities of the software being "exported." IIRC, there used to be export versions of IE that were limited to 56-bit encryption due to US export laws which classified certain types of encryption as a "weapon." But I think that's pretty much a non-issue in the developed world nowadays. Someone could correct me if I'm wrong.
  3. Re:Hmm? by Camael · · Score: 4, Informative

    What the company did was against the US embargo, actually. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2144178/fortinet-investigates-sanctions/

    So yes, it's illegal but the company doesn't care.

  4. Re:Hmm? by mr100percent · · Score: 3, Informative
    From the article:

    The firm, says ONI, responded by saying it doesn't sell software directly to end-users. ONI challenges Fortinet's claim, pointing to a 2004 article, reachable online, by the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper. The story covers a ceremony bringing together Burma's prime minister and Benjamin Teh, described as "an official representative of Fortinet." "Given Mr. Teh's participation, it seems unlikely that Fortinet did not know of the sale of its software to Burma," notes the ONI report. Anyway, How is it illegal to export this software to Iran but not Burma?