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from the eavesdropping-should-be-called-eavescatching dept.
American companies are supplying technology that the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are using to spy on their citizens’ communications and clamp down on dissent, according to a new report ( https://www.privacyinternational.org/sites/privacyinternational.org/files/downloads/press-releases/privateinterests.pdf ) [PDF] from the UK-based advocacy group Privacy International.
Verint Systems, a manufacturer of surveillance systems headquartered in Melville, N.Y., has sold software and hardware to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that is capable of mass interception of telephone, mobile, and Internet networks, the group alleged in its Nov. 20 report. It also provided the training and technical support needed to run them, the report said.
Verint, which claims customers in 180 nations, in turn sought decryption technology made by a firm in California, Netronome, as it helped the Uzbek government attempt to crack the encryption used by Gmail, Facebook, and other popular sites, according to the report.
http://time.com/3598431/uzbekistan-kazakstan-online-privacy-verint/
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Geezer on Sunday November 23 2014, @03:59PM
It is a sad state, isn't it? Even sadder, my estimation is that if things were to get bad enough to bring about a real populist rebellion (electoral or otherwise), the masses have been too thoroughly polarized by pet social issues to ever cooperate as a bloc on reforming the basics of the economy or government. The jack boots would come out, and things would be worse than before.
Also, populist movements tend to draw pejorative labels. Economic populism gets branded as "socialism" or worse. Anti-police state and anti-corruption movements are called anarchists. Labels, in turn, alienate more than they identify. Environmentalists are always derided as Luddites or Utopian. Nicely divided, we all remain conquered.
There's also the problem of critical mass. Everyone bitches and whines, but unless the system runs out of bread and circuses, not enough people will ever be discomfited enough to get of the couch and take action in sufficient numbers. Activism at this point is more likely to lead to martyrdom than reform because the numbers just aren't there.
The only things that might trigger real change would have to bring about the utter destruction of the prevailing socio-economic system and force the survivors into creating a replacement out of necessity. It's sad to think that political salvation has to be rooted in catastrophe; a nuclear war or a near-existential natural disaster would be a horrible thing, but perhaps the only way to unseat the elite globalist plutocracy.
What the hell, where's my Kool-Aide?