[webwewant] Re: [bestbits] Surveillance: not just a US issue

Tue Oct 8 11:40:43 EDT 2013

Very good point ... but advocacy supported by evidence (even if only
evidence of what the public *doesn't* know) is usually the best way to go.
As you rightly say Poncelet, the nature of these things is that they are
not in the public domain, but I wonder if there would be value in getting a
good investigative journalist in each country onto the trail?
cheers
Anne

On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 1:44 PM, Poncelet Ileleji <pileleji at ymca.gm> wrote:

> True talk indeed, however not all are within the public domain, especially
> in developing countries like within the  African continent  where even the
> ISP's won't even go public with what they do or not do, so the important
> thing for me, is more advocacy and discussions especially within our
> National Internet Governance platform's where all stake holders are present
> to discuse issues on surveillance, privacy etc and what especially is
> within the National Interest pertinent to security etc.
>
> My take
>
> Poncelet
>
>
>
>
> On 8 October 2013 11:36, vale - oneworldsee <
> valentina.pellizzer at oneworldsee.org> wrote:
>
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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>>
>> Thanks,
>> it is really important to get world overviews
>> hvale
>>
>> On 08/10/13 12:17, Anne Jellema wrote:
>> > Thanks Pranesh - these are fascinating pieces. I have been
>> > wondering for awhile if there is a widespread pattern of govts
>> > using hotly contested license negotiations or spectrum auctions to
>> > secure access to data. It only makes sense that they would try, I
>> > guess. Does anyone have similar intelligence from other countries?
>> >  best Anne
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 3:25 AM, Pranesh Prakash
>> > <pranesh at cis-india.org <mailto:pranesh at cis-india.org>> wrote:
>> >
>> > A two-part piece I wrote in the NYT India blog on surveillance in
>> > India.
>> >
>> > Part 1: How Surveillance Works in India http://goo.gl/ahjDy4
>> >
>> > Part 2: Can India Trust Its Government on Privacy?
>> > http://goo.gl/ih4PLW
>> >
>> > ~ Pranesh
>> >
>> > Anne Jellema [2013-10-04 09:21]:
>> >> Hi all
>> >>
>> >> Yet more evidence (this time from South Africa) that governments
>> > beyond the
>> >> US are using technology to escalate surveillance of civilians,
>> >> and for their own dubious reasons as well as to cooperate with
>> >> the Americans.
>> >>
>> >> Full disclosure: the author is my partner.
>> >>
>> >> Cheers
>> >>
>> >> Anne
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2013/10/04/surveillance-may-turn-many-of-us-into-enemies
>> >
>> >  Surveillance may turn many of us into ‘enemies’
>> >> BY ANTHONY
>> > BUTLER<
>> http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/staffprofiles/2012/08/10/anthony-butler-profile
>> >,
>> >
>> >  04 OCTOBER 2013, 05:51
>> >>
>> >> SOUTH Africa’s intelligence operatives often appear hopelessly
>> > inept. But
>> >> new technologies are empowering even the most incompetent
>> >> spooks. Revelations by the WikiLeaks "Spy Files" project and
>> > whistle-blower Edward
>> >> Snowden point to a large escalation in citizen surveillance.
>> >>
>> >> In South Africa, crime intelligence and private investigators
>> > routinely
>> >> circumvent the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act
>> >> to
>> > access
>> >> individual citizens’ e-mails and phone calls. Targets can simply
>> > be added
>> >> to legitimate surveillance projects. Even more concerning is the
>> > likelihood
>> >> that there is already systematic blanket surveillance by the
>> >> state.
>> >>
>> >> The Citizen Lab at Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs
>> >> recently revealed that FinSpy software is hosted by one or more
>> >> South African computers, almost certainly within the government.
>> >> FinSpy inserts
>> > "trojans"
>> >> onto target computers and cellphones, allowing remote
>> >> surveillance of keystrokes, passwords, text messages, e-mails and
>> >> voice data. It
>> > can even
>> >> turn a cellphone into a microphone to eavesdrop on private
>> > conversations
>> >> (which explains some politicians’ unnerving habit of removing
>> >> the
>> > batteries
>> >> from their phones).
>> >>
>> >> Huawei Technologies, the world’s second-biggest
>> >> telecommunications
>> > company,
>> >> is a recent investor in South Africa. According to one assessment
>> >> in Foreign Affairs magazine, Huawei is a Chinese intelligence
>> >> agency "masquerading as a tech business". Using software
>> >> developed for
>> > domestic
>> >> repression, it could allegedly supply passive surveillance
>> > capability to a
>> >> friendly ruling party.
>> >>
>> >> A much smaller local company, VASTech, has been a focus of
>> >> WikiLeaks’ attention. The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2011
>> >> that the Stellenbosch-based firm’s systems helped the Gadaffi
>> >> regime monitor millions of mobile and landline calls. This
>> >> technology was also
>> > reportedly
>> >> sold to the Mubarak state.
>> >>
>> >> WikiLeaks-hosted company documents show that VASTech’s Zebra
>> > system can
>> >> monitor 20-million voice channels simultaneously. Such blanket
>> > interception
>> >> is complemented by archiving power that allows agents to
>> > "backtrack and
>> >> retrieve all the communications of suspects prior to an
>> >> incident".
>> > Network
>> >> analysis permits the identification of "key relationships
>> >> between stakeholders" and lays bare "the structure and operation
>> >> of syndicate networks".
>> >>
>> >> Even anonymous cellphones are no defence against Zebra: it uses
>> > "speaker
>> >> identification" technology to "reveal unknown numbers and new
>> >> mobile devices used by targets".
>> >>
>> >> VASTech describes surveillance targets as "criminals and enemies
>> > of the
>> >> public". But it is officials in state agencies, and not software
>> > suppliers,
>> >> who decide how technology is used. Given that the state’s
>> >> national interception centre probably possesses such instruments,
>> >> can
>> > citizens be
>> >> confident that intrastate oversight mechanisms are effective?
>> >>
>> >> Drug-smuggling, xenophobia, illicit commerce, and human
>> > trafficking, among
>> >> many other matters, are routinely touted as "threats to national
>> > security".
>> >> This could license the surveillance of a vast swathe of
>> >> commercial
>> > entities
>> >> and citizens.
>> >>
>> >> Surveillance systems are excellent instruments for the mapping
>> >> of
>> > internal
>> >> political party factions. It is possible to take a player in
>> >> national, provincial or local politics, reconstruct his
>> >> "collaboration
>> > networks", and
>> >> eavesdrop on his archived conversations. There is nothing to
>> > prevent such
>> >> technology being used against recalcitrant trade unionists —
>> > especially
>> >> when, as State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele has observed, so
>> >> much industrial action is "illegal".
>> >>
>> >> The KwaZulu-Natal police’s Lt-Gen Solomon Makgale made the
>> >> insightful observation this week that service delivery protesters
>> >> are also
>> > criminals.
>> >> A protest, he noted, "stops being a protest when a crime is
>> > committed … if
>> >> you are impeding the flow of traffic, then obviously you’ll be
>> >> in
>> > conflict
>> >> with the law".
>> >>
>> >> South Africa is experiencing a rapid expansion in the reach and
>> > potential
>> >> power of state surveillance. It is unclear how to prevent what
>> >> may
>> > become
>> >> an equally rapid rise in the number of citizens defined by state
>> > agencies
>> >> as "enemies of the public".
>> >>
>> >> • *Butler teaches politics at the University of Cape Town.*
>> >>
>> >
>> > -- Pranesh Prakash Policy Director Centre for Internet and Society
>> > T: +91 80 40926283 <tel:%2B91%2080%2040926283> | W:
>> > http://cis-india.org PGP ID: 0x1D5C5F07 | Twitter:
>> > @pranesh_prakash -------------------+ Postgraduate Associate &
>> > Access to Knowledge Fellow Information Society Project, Yale Law
>> > School T: +1 520 314 7147 <tel:%2B1%20520%20314%207147> | W:
>> > http://yaleisp.org
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > -- Anne Jellema Chief Executive Officer Cape Town, RSA mob (ZA) +27
>> > 61 036 9652 tel (ZA) +27 21 788 4585 tel (US) +1 202 684 6885 Skype
>> > anne.jellema @afjellema
>> >
>> > World Wide Web Foundation | 1889 F Street NW, Washington DC, 20006,
>> > USA | www.webfoundation.org <http://www.webfoundation.org/> |
>> > Twitter: @webfoundation
>> >
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>>
>> - --
>> valentina pellizzer
>> izvrsna direktorica/executive directress
>> oneworld - platform for southeast europe (owpsee)
>>
>> http://www.oneworldsee.org
>> http://www.oneworldsee.org/civicit
>> http://www.ilab.ba
>> http://www.zenskaposla.ba
>> http://mapirajnasilje.net
>>
>> gsm: ++ 387 (0)61 484 038
>> tel/fax: ++387 (0)33 834 899
>> twitter: @froatosebe
>> jabber: h-vale at jabber.org
>> skype: levantina6767
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Poncelet O. Ileleji MBCS
> Coordinator
> The Gambia YMCAs Computer Training Centre & Digital Studio
> MDI Road Kanifing South
> P. O. Box 421 Banjul
> The Gambia, West Africa
> Tel: (220) 4370240
> Fax:(220) 4390793
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> *www.diplointernetgovernance.org
>
> *
> *
>
>

-- 
Anne Jellema
Chief Executive Officer
Cape Town, RSA
mob (ZA) +27 61 036 9652
tel (ZA) +27 21 788 4585
tel (US) +1 202 684 6885
Skype anne.jellema
@afjellema

World Wide Web Foundation | 1889 F Street NW, Washington DC, 20006, USA |
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