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As we speak, Egypt is struggling with near-total Internet and communications shut-off, and not just Egyptians are grappling with the implications. Can the flow of social media information to an entire country simply be cut? Apparently yes. And that’s not just an Egyptian concern.
It’s very much an American concern, in that a US-based company seems to be the maker of the Internet off-switch. As Tim Karr of Free Press notes, the US company Narus was founded in 1997 by Israeli security experts. Based in Sunnyvale California, Narus has devised what business fans call a “social media sleuth.”
As boosters put it: “Narus is the leader in real-time traffic intelligence for the protection and management of large IP networks. . . .Used by the world’s service providers and governments, Narus has developed and patented state-of-the art algorithms to detect network anomalies and manage unwanted IP traffic. Additionally, Narus has the unique ability to precision target and fully reconstruct all types of IP traffic, including e-mail, Web mail and instant messages.”
They call it “total visibility.” Who’s buying? Well, Egypt Telecom, the state-owned communications company. Human rights abusers Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are also clients. During Iran’s protests in 2009, dissidents were tracked, imprisoned, and in some cases executed thanks to similar technology.
And in that Narus is owned by Boeing, the nominally-US based company that has outsourced jobs all over the world — we know that the US State Department has been lobbying for them. Got to boost those exports!
So while Obama administration reps call for Internet freedom to be restored in Egypt, they may simultaneously be lobbying for the companies who shut down that freedom. Your tax dollars at work promoting the sale of social media off-switches to dictators, that would be bad enough.
But do we have any reason to believe the US has not also bought this handy tool for itself? It makes you wonder what or who he’s kidding when Robert Gibbs talks about Internet freedom. Better not talk it up too loudly though before someone reaches for the kill switch.
The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv and editor of At The Tea Party, out now from OR Books. GRITtv broadcasts weekdays on DISH Network and DIRECTv, on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter and be our friend on Facebook.
15 Comments
That’s really dangerous, here. We need a law prohibiting the Government from using this software, or having contractors use this software to shut down the Internet in the US.
Btw, can the software be used from outside of the US to shut down Internet traffic here?
It’s likely the POTUS and every other major Prime Mininster had a “kill switch” by 2003 – 2005. Sure the Narus is probably in every major node’s Central Office/multi-story carrier hoteling facility. The US has 20 Tier 1 cities. The most famous switching location is at 60 Hudson St., New York, New York. There’s definitely a Narus in the central switching facility in San Franscisco “whose installation in AT&T’s San Francisco Internet backbone gave rise to a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T, Hepting v. AT&T.[2].”
“200GB to 25GB: Canada gets first, bitter dose of metered Internet” (by Matthew Lasar, Jan. 31, 2011)
lgid,
Are you serious with your question? Do you actually separate Government and contractors in this context?
FDL has done stellar documentation of all these features.
Yes– it’s only a matter of having a communications channel in whether the operator is in Air Force One or not. You can also do more local jamming of select frequencies with properly equipped air vehicles or drones for example. The mother of all signal sniffers/jammers/tracers flashed itself one day: “Secret Army Intelligence Planes Intercept Times Square Terrorist” (by Rayne, Tuesday May 4, 2010 4:23 pm).
Highly recommended. We all need to keep our eye on this. Our government tends not to be as openly repressive of free speech as Mubarak’s dictatorship was, but they’re quietly trying to make it possible to monitor and control everyone, and to choke off forums for free speech (like FDL) one by one. We need to recognize this as a vital threat to our freedom. The loss of net neutrality should be reversed if at all possible, and should be recognized as a major step toward totalitarianism in the USA.
Maybe the Jasmine Revolutions of Egypt and Tunisia will be our wake-up call. While social media and advanced telecom were not the ultimate driving force of these Revolutions, they were definitely a facilitator. You can bet the Obama administration and the corporate world are working overtime to make them a less effective facilitator.
“Welcome to the Canadian Internet, now stop using it” (by Cory Doctorow, Feb. 2, 2011, 3:08 AM)
“Huge ISPs want per-GB payments from Netflix, YouTube” (by Nate Anderson for ArsTechnica.Com, Feb. 1, 2011)
“Egyptian Actions Highlight Dangers in U.S. Cybersecurity Proposals Commentary” (by Cindy Cohn for EFF.Org, Jan. 31, 2011)
Liebermann’s internet killswitch is coasting through congress on it’s way to be signed by obama.
search google for PCNAA
or read:
http://my.firedoglake.com/marinara/2010/06/21/liebermans-bill-would-put-internet-under-homeland-security-supervision/
http://act2.freepress.net/cms/thanks/kill_switch?action_id=6251108&akid=2265.9291413.-MZHb9&form_name=act&rd=1
read this on how harry reid is sponsoring the killswitch on the internet.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20030332-281.html?tag=mncol;title
as it reads, a DEMOCRAT introduced the bill in the house.
Why don’t democrats know what totalitarianism is?
They do know. They like it. That’s why real progress will require close to 100% turnover in both houses of Congress – Democrats as well as Republicans – and the White House, and the Supreme Court. This isn’t a government – it’s a regime. They all treat our Constitution as a dead letter.
I fought with a Dem operative last night on AJEnglish blog about this, who claimed the Dems are “fighting this initiative” initiated they claim, by the Repuks. If the Dem ops are “blaming the Repuks” all over the net, but the Dems back it through “backdoor” “don’t blame us” methods, it’s a sealed and done deal.
Once again Dems, blame the Repuks for the legislation, but “don’t mind if I do” support it anyway. (warisacrime.org.)
Notice the role of landlines in Egypt right now:
“How to Foil a Nationwide Internet Shutdown (By Adam Dachis, Jan 28, 2011 12:15 PM)
In the US, up to just under 30% household don’t have land lines: “More landlines getting heave-ho” (by Justin Hall, January 10, 2011)
Update: “Canada’s government to overturn Internet usage caps” (by Eric W. Dolan, Feb. 3, 2011):