this didn’t get nearly enough attention the first time around, so i thought i’d add some details to entice you out there to start taking this sort of shit way more seriously.
from wikileaks:
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. Other companies like Phoenexia in the Czech Republic collaborate with the military to create speech analysis tools. They identify individuals by gender, age and stress levels and track them based on ‘voiceprints’. Blue Coat in the U.S. and Ipoque in Germany sell tools to governments in countries like China and Iran to prevent dissidents from organizing online.
Trovicor, previously a subsidiary of Nokia Siemens Networks, supplied the Bahraini government with interception technologies that tracked human rights activist Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar. He was shown details of personal mobile phone conversations from before he was interrogated and beaten in the winter of 2010-2011.
here are links to two firms chosen at random, northrup-grumman of the good ol’ USofA,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems are relied on more than ever for a wide range of intelligence collection capabilities – they are critical in combat,
environmental and earth science research, homeland security, border and coastal patrol, hurricane and fire monitoring and other disaster relief support activities. Last year, the U.S. Air Force trained more UAS operators than fighter and bomber pilots combined. Unmanned aircraft have proven their value in operations around the world.
and innovo, from italy:
Innova Research & Development Laboratories have developed a complete range of effective and reliable products and solutions for the interception of any kind of protocols and IP-based communication, such as web browsing, e-mail and web-mails, social networks, peer to peer communication, chat and videochat etc..
wikileaks has a great map that details info on some of the current players in the growing intelligence-gathering arm of the military/industrial complex:
click on image for link to wikileaks spyfiles map
