guardian.co.uk,
Jamie Doward and Rebecca Lewis, Saturday 7 April 2012
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| There are fears that UK technology firms could be supporting Assad's Syrian regime. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images |
Britain is
exporting surveillance technology to countries run by repressive regimes,
sparking fears it is being used to track political dissidents and activists.
The UK's
enthusiastic role in the burgeoning but unregulated surveillance market is
becoming an urgent concern for human rights groups, who want the government to
ensure that exports are regulated in a similar way to arms.
Much of the
technology, which allows regimes to monitor internet traffic, mobile phone
calls and text messages, is similar to that which the government has
controversially signalled it wants to use in the UK.
The
campaign group, Privacy International, which monitors the use of surveillance
technology, claims equipment being exported includes devices known as
"IMSI catchers" that masquerade as normal mobile phone masts and
identify phone users and malware – software that can allow its operator to
control a target's computer, while allowing the interception to remain
undetected.
Trojan
horse software that allows hackers to remotely activate the microphone and
camera on another person's phone, and "optical cyber solutions" that
can tap submarine cable landing stations, allowing for the mass surveillance of
entire populations, are also being exported, according to the group.
Privacy
International said it had visited international arms and security fairs and
identified at least 30 UK companies that it believes have exported surveillance
technology to countries including Syria, Iran, Yemen and Bahrain. A further 50
companies exporting similar technology from the US were also identified.
Germany and Israel were also identified as big exporters of surveillance
technology, in what is reportedly a £3bn a year industry.
Last month
Privacy International asked 160 companies about sales of equipment to
repressive regimes. So far fewer than 10 have written back to deny selling to
nations with poor human rights records. The campaign group warns: "The emerging
information and communications infrastructures of developing countries are
being hijacked for surveillance purposes, and the information thereby collected
is facilitating unlawful interrogation practices, torture and extrajudicial
executions."
Many of the
brochures, presentations and marketing videos used by surveillance companies to
promote their technology have now been posted on the WikiLeaks website, while a
list of firms identified by Privacy International as a cause for concern has
been provided to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The trade
minister, Mark Prisk, has been briefed on the situation.
Last month
the European council banned the export of surveillance technologies to Iranian
authorities in response to serious human rights violations. It has imposed
similar bans on exports to Syria.
But human
rights groups said equipment was still being sold to commercial organisations
in the two countries and called for the government to take stronger action.
"By
the time the embargo is in place the ship has sailed," said Eric King,
head of research at Privacy International. "Our research shows the idea
that this is not a British problem is wrong. We need governments to act now. In
a few years this equipment will need to be updated; these countries don't have
the technical expertise to do it, so this is something the UK needs to be aware
of and to take action against now."
In December
it emerged a British company had offered to sell software to Egyptian security
services that experts say could hack into web-based email. The company, Gamma
Group International, insists it "complies, in all its dealings, with all
relevant UK legislation".
Last year a
public outcry forced an Italian company to pull out of supplying Syria with
"deep packet investigation" technology that would allow the country's
security forces to access internet service providers. But Syriatel Mobile,
Syria's largest mobile phone operator, uses blocking technology provided by a
Dublin-based company.
Creativity
Software (CS), a British firm specialising in "location-based
services", sold technology to the mobile network operator MTN Irancell
that campaign groups said could be used to track individuals. The company said
its technology provided "the same type of activities that are enjoyed by
consumers in many other markets – a hugely popular and successful social
networking and location-based mobile advertising service".
It is the
responsibility of manufacturers to ensure their technology is not used to
perpetrate human rights abuses. But there are now calls for them to be subject
to stringent export controls requiring a licence to sell abroad.
Privacy
International also argues that, in order to prevent dangerous technologies
reaching authoritarian regimes through middlemen, there is a need for
"end-use" controls that would make it illegal for companies to
provide their products when they know or suspect they will be used in human
rights abuses.
In a letter
to Privacy International, Downing Street said the government was "actively
looking at this issue" and was working within the EU to introduce new
controls on surveillance.
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