** ** WikiLeaks Watches Watchers With New Exposé on Spy Tech Companies****
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/09/05/wikileaks_spyfiles_new_documents_examine_spy_tech_companies_like_gamma_hacking.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=sm&utm_campaign=button_toolbar **** ** ** ** ** By Ryan Gallagher**** ** ** Posted Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013, at 4:21 PM**** ** ** The secretive surveillance technology industry does its best to fly under*** * the radar. But the shadowy companies selling controversial spy tools to**** governments are being exposed to public scrutiny whether they like it or**** not, thanks to a new WikiLeaks project.**** ** ** On Wednesday, the whistleblower organization published a new trove of**** documents that reveal the surveillance equipment being sold by more than 90* *** firms to authorities across the world as part of a burgeoning clandestine*** * market in electronic spying. The documents shed light on the growing catalog **** of surveillance devices being offered to governments, ranging from portable* *** transceivers that can sweep up thousands of phone calls to Trojan spyware*** * designed to help police and intelligence agencies hack into computers and*** * mobile phones to monitor chats and emails. **** ** ** Dubbed the “SpyFiles” by WikiLeaks, the release builds on a previous**** surveillance industry exposé by the group in 2011, and comes amid**** unprecedented international discussion about government spying tactics**** disclosed in June by former National Security Agency contractor Edward**** Snowden.**** ** ** Particularly significant in the latest SpyFiles cache is a series of**** contract documents that appear to show how the international arm of British* *** surveillance company Gamma Group was involved in a project with**** Switzerland-based Dreamlab to install Internet surveillance equipment in**** Oman, an autocratic country with a record of cracking down on free**** expression and pro-democracy activists. Other documents show that Gamma,**** well-known for its contentious Trojan spyware, is also offering governments* *** portable "massive intercept" tools that it boasts can record almost 40,000** ** cellphone conversations every hour. Gamma is selling portable Internet**** surveillance equipment that it says can covertly intercept the “complete**** traffic” of a target, too. But the company is not dealing in digital**** espionage only: One marketing document dated 2011 shows off long-distance*** * microphones that it says government spies can conceal in a car tire and use* *** to hone in on particular conversations between targets meeting face-to-face* *** in busy public places.**** ** ** Gamma did not respond to a request for comment. The company’s spokesman**** Martin Muench has previously told me that Gamma cooperates with export**** control laws and “simply does not discuss its client base, its exports, or** ** any of the operations which its clients may or may not be undertaking.”**** ** ** Of course, not revealing customers is standard practice in the surveillance* *** business, where confidentiality agreements are commonly used to enforce a*** * strict code of secrecy. However, another notable part of the SpyFiles**** released Wednesday involves the launch of what WikiLeaks is calling its**** “counter intelligence unit”—aimed at shedding light on the countries (often* *** authoritarian) that spy tech companies are dealing with. Though it has not** ** disclosed its sources and methods, the group claims it has been “tracking*** * the trackers” by collecting location data on the movements of key employees* *** for some of the largest surveillance tech firms.**** ** ** It is unclear exactly how the location data was obtained or whether it was** ** collected by the group lawfully. Either way, it has certainly turned up some **** interesting details. The location data WikiLeaks says is linked to staff of* *** Italian spy Trojan vendor Hacking Team, for instance, shows the employees*** * visiting Morocco on two separate occasions between 2011 and 2013. Hacking*** * Team’s spy software is designed to infiltrate computers and monitor**** communications and is supposed to be used to target criminals and**** terrorists. But the technology was linked to an attack on an award-winning** ** group of citizen journalists in Morocco in 2012, as I reported here last**** year.**** ** ** The WikiLeaks data also purports to show Hacking Team employees visiting**** United Arab Emirates on several occasions between 2012 and 2013. Security*** * researchers said in a report published in October 2012 that they had turned* *** up evidence suggesting a pro-democracy activist in the UAE was targeted with **** what that they believed was Hacking Team technology. Previously, Hacking**** Team has played down these reports in response to my questions, while**** refusing to say if it has sold its Trojans to Moroccan or UAE authorities.** ** But the company will have a hard time distancing itself from these countries **** now, if the WikiLeaks data are anything to go by.**** ** ** WikiLeaks said in a statement Wednesday that the release is part of an**** ongoing commitment to pulling back the curtain on the practices of**** surveillance companies. It's forming what is in essence a public library of* *** documents chronicling the burgeoning market in spy tools that will likely*** * help fuel the movement for reform of the outdated laws regulating the use*** * and sale of increasingly advanced tools used to eavesdrop on communications* *** across the world.**** ** ** ==========================================**** (F)AIR USE NOTICE: All original content and/or articles and graphics in this **** message are copyrighted, unless specifically noted otherwise. All rights to* *** these copyrighted items are reserved. Articles and graphics have been placed **** within for educational and discussion purposes only, in compliance with**** "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. **** The principle of "Fair Use" was established as law by Section 107 of The**** Copyright Act of 1976. 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