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Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries
It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for ’political opponents’ are a reality. Today WikiLeaks began releasing a database of hundreds of documents from as many as 160 intelligence contractors in the mass surveillance industry.
When citizens overthrew the dictatorships in Egypt and Libya this year, they uncovered listening rooms where devices from Gamma corporation of the UK, Amesys of France, VASTech of South Africa and ZTE Corp of China monitored their every move online and on the phone
Surveillance companies like SS8 in the U.S., Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture viruses (Trojans) that hijack individual computers and phones (including iPhones, Blackberries and Androids), take over the device, record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, working in collaboration with Wikileaks and Privacy International, has gained access to the sales and marketing material of 160 companies that sell state of the art surveillance technology to governments around the world.
Our investigation shows that this off the shelf gear allows its buyer to hack into the mobile phones, computers and internet accounts of virtually anyone in the world.
On offer were products that allow users to track hundreds of cellphones at once, read e-mails by the tens of thousands, even get a computer to snap a picture of its owner and send the image to police — or anyone else who buys the software. One product uses phony updates for iTunes and other popular programs to take control of personal computers.
One German company, DigiTask, offers a suitcase-sized device capable of monitoring the Web traffic of users at public WiFi hotspots such as cafes, airports and hotel lobbies. A lawyer representing the company, Winfried Seibert, declined to elaborate on its products. “They won’t answer questions about what is offered,” he said. “That’s a secret. That’s a secret between the company and the customer.”
technology from Blue Coat Systems, a California-based company was being used by the Syrian government. The activists claimed it was being used to block sites and monitor internet usage.
Blue Coat told the Bureau it had not sold equipment to Syria, which would have been a violation of a US export ban. The company said it was looking into the allegations.
Now the company has admitted its systems are being used in Syria, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal open a rare window into a new global market for the off-the-shelf surveillance technology that has arisen in the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The techniques described in the trove of 200-plus marketing documents include hacking tools that enable governments to break into people’s computers and cellphones, and "massive intercept" gear that can gather all Internet communications in a country.
Originally posted by JohnySeagull
Surveillance companies like SS8 in the U.S., Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture viruses (Trojans) that hijack individual computers and phones (including iPhones, Blackberries and Androids), take over the device, record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in.
They dont need a screen in your wall like in nieteen eighty four. its in your goddam pocket
mobile phone video here
www.thebureauinvestigates.com...edit on 1-12-2011 by JohnySeagull because: (no reason given)