4 ms·

Torture in Bahrain Aided by Nokia Siemens

31 points by diogenescynic 15y ago

bifrost 15y ago
This is a bit misleading, there are a ton of companies that make network surveilance equiment and sell to various governments. These same systems are also used to track down viruses, hacking sprees and other truly bad things. Nokia aided tortue as much as the internet enables credit card theft...
- mcantelon 15y ago
  Mass surveillance tech is not a neutral tool and the activity of selling mass surveillance tech to a repressive regime is not morally neutral. Yes, Nokia is not alone but shedding light on any corporations that do irresponsible things is useful.
jdp23 15y ago
Surprising to see this via Bloomberg. Encouraging, too!
hackermom 15y ago
Unusually inflammatory and sensationalistic headline for Bloomberg.
oswiego 15y ago
end to end encryption in a cell phone? sounds like something a phone could do
- bonzoesc 15y ago
  The algorithm's not the hard part; key management is.
smokeyj 15y ago
> The toolbox allows more than the interception of phone calls, e-mails, text messages and Voice Over Internet Protocol calls such as those made using Skype. Some products can also secretly activate laptop webcams or microphones on mobile devices. They can change the contents of written communications in mid-transmission, use voice recognition to scan phone networks, and pinpoint people’s locations through their mobile phones. The monitoring systems can scan communications for key words or recognize voices and then feed the data and recordings to operators at government agencies. I wonder how popular this system is in the U.S.
bdhe 15y ago
Technically off-topic, but I would like to spread word about this documentary by Al-Jazeera English that talks about the revolution that was not covered in the west. It is an absolutely horrifying video covering the protests and the brutal crackdown (including how the govt used social media) in Bahrain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTKDMYOBOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTKDMYOBOU To those that argue against encryption and privacy with trite phrases like "you have nothing to hide" must realize the harsh consequences such as the above that could result from that kind of argument.
VladRussian 15y ago
why go so far as Bahrain? The kill switch against political protest was used several days ago right here in San Francisco. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/bart-cell-phone-shutdown-free-speech_n_927294.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/bart-cell-phone-shu... Can you name any other place in the world that can be considered having as much or more political freedom than San Francisco?

31 points by diogenescynic 15y ago

This is a bit misleading, there are a ton of companies that make network surveilance equiment and sell to various governments. These same systems are also used to track down viruses, hacking sprees and other truly bad things. Nokia aided tortue as much as the internet enables credit card theft...

mcantelon 15y ago
Mass surveillance tech is not a neutral tool and the activity of selling mass surveillance tech to a repressive regime is not morally neutral. Yes, Nokia is not alone but shedding light on any corporations that do irresponsible things is useful.

jdp23 15y ago

Surprising to see this via Bloomberg. Encouraging, too!

hackermom 15y ago

Unusually inflammatory and sensationalistic headline for Bloomberg.

oswiego 15y ago

end to end encryption in a cell phone? sounds like something a phone could do

bonzoesc 15y ago
The algorithm's not the hard part; key management is.

smokeyj 15y ago

> The toolbox allows more than the interception of phone calls, e-mails, text messages and Voice Over Internet Protocol calls such as those made using Skype. Some products can also secretly activate laptop webcams or microphones on mobile devices. They can change the contents of written communications in mid-transmission, use voice recognition to scan phone networks, and pinpoint people’s locations through their mobile phones. The monitoring systems can scan communications for key words or recognize voices and then feed the data and recordings to operators at government agencies. I wonder how popular this system is in the U.S.

bdhe 15y ago

Technically off-topic, but I would like to spread word about this documentary by Al-Jazeera English that talks about the revolution that was not covered in the west. It is an absolutely horrifying video covering the protests and the brutal crackdown (including how the govt used social media) in Bahrain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTKDMYOBOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaTKDMYOBOU To those that argue against encryption and privacy with trite phrases like "you have nothing to hide" must realize the harsh consequences such as the above that could result from that kind of argument.

VladRussian 15y ago

why go so far as Bahrain? The kill switch against political protest was used several days ago right here in San Francisco. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/bart-cell-phone-shutdown-free-speech_n_927294.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/15/bart-cell-phone-shu... Can you name any other place in the world that can be considered having as much or more political freedom than San Francisco?