Rights and Accountability 10 August 2015
Palestinians in Gaza shopping for the latest smartphone. Technology Bangladesh is set to buy from Verint was developed using systemic spying on ordinary Palestinians.
APA imagesThe Israeli-American firm Verint Systems looks set to win another mass public surveillance contract in South Asia, this time in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka-based newspaper The Daily Star reported last week that Verint is one of several firms set to share a Ministry of Home Affairs contract for the mass wiretapping of Bangladeshi phone and Internet communications.
This is the latest example of technology Israel developed to intercept Palestinian telecommunications being exported for governments abroad to monitor their citizenry.
Bangladesh formed the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) in 2010 to expand its surveillance capabilities. The Bangladeshi government at the time could monitor and record no more than 5,000 devices at one time. Later technology expanded that reach to 50,000 devices in 2013.
According to The Daily Star, the “present NTMC monitoring system is old and lacks the capacity to control the modern information technology.” The paper explains that “more modern equipment is required to assume more control over obstructing or recording users’ telephonic or online communications so that intelligence activities could be conducted more smoothly.”
To enhance its capabilities the NTMC is buying a series of monitoring systems from seven firms including Verint Systems.
Selling anti-Palestinian expertise
Unit 8200 is the technology division of the Israeli military’s Intelligence Corps. Former Unit 8200 member Idan Tendler explained in March that ”instead of relying on outside research and development, the 8200’s technologists work directly with their ‘customers’ (the intelligence officers). All of the unit’s technology systems, from analytics to data mining, intercept, and intelligence management, are designed and built in-house. Technologists sit side by side with their users on a daily basis to ensure that their ‘products’ meet the intelligence officers’ specific requirements.”
Another former Unit 8200 officer, Gil Kerbs, wrote in 2007 how Verint’s then most popular system the Logger “is based on the Unit’s technology.”
Unit 8200 and other elite Israeli military units are “the nation’s equivalent of Harvard, Princeton and Yale” and their “graduates, after leaving service, can parlay their cutting-edge snooping and hacking skills into jobs in Israel, Silicon Valley or Boston’s high-tech corridor.”
As The Financial Times reports, the education comes from ”snoop[ing] on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank or naval and air blockade in the Gaza Strip, according to a whistle-blowing leak that created a stir last year. In an open letter in September 2014, published by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper and broadcast on Channel 10, a group of 43 serving and former 8200 reservists revealed what they said were coercive spying tactics being used on innocent Palestinians, including the collection of embarrassing sexual, financial or other information.”
That data collection and surveillance of Palestinians is the basis for the technological expertise ex-Israeli military personnel bring to Verint and other Israeli security and surveillance firms. This is what is now sought by the Bangladeshi government.
The Bangladeshi government says the system will be deployed to surveil “criminals” and those that threaten national security. The government has been repressing Bangladesh’s ongoing labor insurgency, raising concerns about what populations the government is defining as criminal.
Verint has sold similar mass telecom surveillance systems to India, Mexico and, most famously, to the United States where Verint was implicated with another Israeli firm in the National Security Agency wiretapping scandal.
Comments
Hmmm
Permalink Mooer replied on
My word. A Muslim country doing business with Israel. Haven't they heard of BDS?
correction
Permalink tom hall replied on
A repressive government doing business with Israel. And yes, the generals have definitely heard of BDS. As a matter of fact, they're going to be listening even more closely, thanks to Verint Systems.
Money poorly allocated in a pverty-stricken country
Permalink Linda Carraway replied on
Just incredible. Like Bangladesh needs spyware more than food for its unfortunate citizens.
FROM IRAN TO ISRAEL
Permalink Peter Loeb replied on
The rhetorical demands of pols regarding the agreement with Iran (I early
predicted that there would be no deal in another electronic newsletter) make
sense ONLY if the same restrictions are imposed on Israel. This framework
was passed overwhelmingly in the UN General Assembly in 2014 with the
US and Israel voting in opposition.(no "veto" in GA.)
The above is relevant to this article and its like because it is Israel (with
US support) which is the major threat to peace not only in the Mideast but
but in the world as well. It is Israel which has about 200 nuclear bomb
sites (unacknowledged and number approximate). It is Israel which
has many sites for the manufacture of WMD's. It is Israel which sells
60% of drones to the world market.
And it is Israel which sells its services of "intelligence" (read "oppression")
worldwide. Bangladesh is one example. US piolice forces are other
"customers" for "security" (against those protesting that "Black Lives
Matter").
But this would be "anti-Semitic" many say. That is (expletive)...absurd.
Instead, it is a beginning toward justice. Why is the US supporting "our
allies" who provoke and provoke other nations? Why is Israel permitted
to use its ethnicity as a cover to avoid following international law and
laws of human decency?
From Israels (official) perspective it is for profit. The US designs the
weapons of war, gives Israel billion dollar aid , and Israel serves as
the "salesman"---somewhat like a car salesman perhaps.
BDS?? I support BDS but realistically doubt its chances against so many
strong forces: US and Israeli governments, weapons manufacturers etc.
Not only AIPAC.
I personally can do what I can but my life will end before major progress
is made.
---Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA
Firstly this is not
Permalink be forewarned! replied on
Firstly this is not surprising to me that my government is getting more and more repressive. But please be forewarned that Bangladesh since its very independence in '71 has never had any diplomatic relation with Israel and the general public from all walks is staunchly anti Israeli. There is even some rumor that Israel was the first country to lend recognition to Bangladesh, but the provisional government back then had turned it down (Bhutan is officially the first country to recognize Bangladesh). If you get hold of a Bangladeshi passport, you'll see these words clearly written "All countries of the world except Israel" (used to be "Israel and South Africa" before '94).
Agree 100%. The history of
Permalink Jimmy replied on
Agree 100%. The history of the last century shows largely cynical relations when it comes to arms and security. Bangladesh is not the only country without diplomatic relations with Israel to buy Israeli arms and security systems. Iran (post-Revolution), Afghanistan (Karzai gov & earlier Mujahadeen vs. USSR), Yemen, UAE, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya (under Gaddafi) and others have bought a variety of Israeli arms ranging from security doors to body armor to tanks to drones. So the political leaders will say one thing while the military and police leaders will do another.