Slashdot Mirror
Spyware Firms in Breach of Global Sanctions (aljazeera.com)
From a report on Al Jazeera: Spy equipment producers are breaking laws and circumventing international sanctions by agreeing to sell stock to countries known for human rights abuses, and to clients who do not declare the end user -- meaning surveillance tools could easily fall into the hands of armed groups, corporations, governments cracking down on dissent, or opposition leaders, an exclusive investigation by Al Jazeera reveals. During "Spy Merchants", a four-month undercover operation, Al Jazeera secretly filmed representatives of two Italian companies and one Chinese business agreeing to sell spyware that is capable of tracking millions of people online and able to intercept phone calls and text messages without anyone finding out. The vendors boasted of being able to side-step the law by using sister and shell companies and explained how to possibly circumvent export regulations by lying about the details of shipments and using third countries exempted from certain rules as stopping places.
Shocked and surprised. Who could have possibly imagined an outcome like this?
In fact, who could possibly have imagined anything else but this sort of thing happening?
(Evil laugh.)
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
So... Manufacturers of spy equipment sell to shady people? SURPRISE!
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
No spy agencies in the world would directly identify who they are when they buy stuff from you. So how are you supposed to background check any of them?
>Spy equipment producers are breaking laws and circumventing international sanctions by agreeing to sell stock to countries known for human rights abuses, and to clients who do not declare the end user -- meaning surveillance tools could easily fall into the hands of armed groups, corporations, governments cracking down on dissent, or opposition leaders,
Unless you have a cop assigned to follow each device 24/7, they're going to end up wherever anyway.
Unlike nuclear bombs which are kind of difficult to make (and we still can't stop the tech and materials from spreading), most 'spy tech' is fairly easy to reproduce once you understand it.
It's like trying to stop a river with a chain link fence...
Have gnu, will travel.
Right.... As in all that has happened TO the Muslims since oh, the crusades == human rights abuses. Glad we agree.
Yep. Just look as that damn Muslim Myanmar persecuting all of those Buddhist Rohingya. Wait, you mean Myanmar are the Buddhists and Rohingya are Mulsim? Well, certainly that's just an isolated incident. Oh, you mean China severely represses the Muslim Uighurs? Well, they are evil, atheist Communists, something like that would never happen in a democracy. Damn, the Hindu dominated government in Uttar Pradesh (a state in the world's largest democracy, India) is severely cracking down on slaughterhouses (disproportionately affecting Christian and Muslim minorities in the state) over alleged killing of cattle. At least things are better here in the US though. We don't persecute Muslims. We just have people kill non-Muslims because they assumeall brown people are Muslim
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
"Christs whiskers you guys!! did you know we're violating global sanctions?!?! pull the plug! weve got to stop this insanity before its too late!"
--no spyware vendor, ever.
Good people go to bed earlier.
And now that we know, it's time to prosecute them, no?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Privacy? How quaint.
If a country doesn't have the capability to develop the spyware itself, then it will almost certainly not be able operate it autonomously. So it doesn't matter that the spyware is sold through a 3rd-party country. The customers depend on original-manufacturer customer support as much as they depend on it for wares themselves. So, yeah, the premise that this type software can be shipped and billed through a 3rd party to conceal the connection between the buyer and seller is shaky at best.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Crusades, while they are often brought up as an example of human rights abuses pale in comparison to the level of violence committed by another power center which was their contemporary -- the Mongol horde. Crusades could kill a few hundred thousand during each wave. The Mongols killed 1 to 1.5 order magnitude more in each wave (half a million to 10 million). It wasn't for the lack bloodthirst. The Mongols just moved quicker.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.