“ISS World” held Last month in Washington, DC attracted attendees from private sectors, law enforcement, security and defense organizations. According to the Guardian there were also Middle East law enforcement representatives!
It is scheduled to be held in 2012 in Dubai and will be targeting Middle East and North African countries.
For those who don’t know what “ISS World” is; it is the largest and most famous conference for Lawful interception, cyber crime investigation and intelligence gathering tools and systems.
By investigating the sessions, topics and presentation titles, you can easily find how those western companies are helping repressive regimes in the Mideast. They offer all kind of surveillance, hacking and interception tools you’ve never heard of.
We don’t need any evidences from “ISS World” to know that Middle East countries are using such technologies to suppress their people online and offline. We witnessed many evidences during Arab uprising and still see more daily. Arab regimes are now turning to hacking techniques and might be easily categorized as cybercriminals!
I can’t understand how it is “Lawful” for governments to hack into your systems and violate your privacy without any warrant! But it will be turned “Unlawful” and you will be jailed if you hack into your government systems!
In my opinions, there is no difference between western governments and our regimes in Mideast. Western companies are helping repressive regimes to trace their innocent people, invade their privacy, and even kill them because they are just “blogging or tweeting”.
Those western companies who gathered in ISS World said that they are not responsible for how those repressive regimes are using their tools. They sell a product for whoever will pay. They are for-profit companies. According to their claim, that is like selling cars to Libyan rebels they have no responsibility if they use these cars to kill civilians!
This comparison is not fair at all..!
If you sell a car, you know the primary usage of the car.
It is for transportation not a killing machine, sir!
Those companies are hiding behind the “Lawful interception” term.
But what about countries with no law at all? Or even using the law to hide behind?
Young people need to be aware when using technology and must not trust their governments at all. They need to improve their security awareness and understand how to protect their privacy and security online. They should know that these technologies will not protect repressive regimes. It is not just a business game to sell products; it turns political in due course!
Western governments know how to deal with Middle East and oppressive regimes. They made them, feed them, and then throw them into the dustbin of history!