Forbes – Privacy International has released a collection of 1,203 documents on the private surveillance sector, detailing mass surveillance technologies capable of covertly collecting millions of emails, text messages, and phone calls on citizens around the world.
The documents identify two companies recognized for supplying Internet monitoring technology and undisclosed software vulnerabilities to the U.S. National Security Agency.
The Surveillance Industry Index reveals that companies based in the UK, Israel, Germany, France, and the US are providing products that enable various capabilities, including remote access to computers, monitoring of social media networks, voice analysis from phone call samples, and mass interception of Internet communications.
“The Index exists as a public resource to allow people to read and understand for themselves the kind of equipment that states are buying, and could be targeting at them, or others in their name”, says Matthew Rice, a research consultant with Privacy International in London, UK.
One notable company listed in the Surveillance Industry Index is Hacking Team, operating from Milan, Italy. Their technology, capable of bypassing encryption and avoiding detection by antivirus software and firewalls, allows for monitoring of cell phone conversations, emails, Skype calls, and even surveillance through a target’s webcam and microphone.
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