The Wall Street Journal is reporting extensively on the sale of advanced web monitoring equipment to Iran by a joint venture of Germany’s Siemens and Finland’s Nokia.
Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections.
Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts.
Much of this technology comes from the joint venture, which now has blood on its hands. Siemens has “been there and done that” (profited from fascism) and should have known better, but it didn’t.
In any case, if you can construct advanced equipment of this nature, there’s a good chance you know how to jam or override it. The joint venture should provide this information as quickly as possible to people and organizations that can do something about this before it is used for even more nefarious purposes (when Iran gets the bomb). Other high technology companies should immediately desist from dealing with Iran. That includes General Electric, whose record on Iran is checkered at best. Technology companies who do not do this voluntarily should be boycotted. Due to Twitter, etc., this is probably happening already. A significant number of people – myself included – will not be thinking of Nokia for their next cell phone.
Giving advanced equipment to the mullahs is sort of like handing a loaded machine gun to Charles Manson.
UPDATE: Credit is due Eli Lake who was already reporting extensively on Siemens and Iran in an April edition of the Washington Times.
AND: Apparently Nokia constitutes 41.2% of the current smartphone market. I just bought an iPhone 3GS. I recommend it.
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27 Comments
1. Pastorius:There is a book called IBM and the Holocaust, which details how IBM helped the Nazis to keep records on Jews, which were then used to track the Jews down so they could be murdered en masse.
Siemens and Nokia are following in the same infamous steps.
Jun 22, 2009 - 8:08 am 2. Michael C. Seaver:The great Irony of the Internet is that at the onset it was designed to be a system of open design for the free exchange of information. Commercial usage and identity theft, (and other considerations, such as encrypting information to hide it from “officials”) have driven us to protect and secure certain sites. But the basic protocols remain unchanged, (TCP or UDP or Voice over IP), and are well understood by hackers, virus creators, network engineers, etc. “Deep” packet, or “bit by bit” analysis is nothing new. Two things give users an advantage — speed and flooding. Get there first and use it as much as possible before “they” catch on. In the end, the open design principles really defeat personal, private security. We all know that the public entities see the other side of that coin.
Jun 22, 2009 - 8:46 am 3. Anita Hope:In just a few minutes HP is introducing a new printer that has been under raps. It is preprogramed with Application and you can print directly without any connection. An example, right from your iphone, thus bypassing pc’s etc. What applications will be up to the homeowner as it will be the new control unit
Jun 22, 2009 - 9:08 am 4. World Threats » Blog Archive » Rafsanjani/Ayatollah Sistani Made Be Planning Replacing of Office of Supreme Leader:on the intermet without connection. Where is all this going, records transmitted & printed via our iphone, immediate info that we will have no control of.
[...] prominent commentator is calling for a boycott of Germany’s Siemens and Finland’s Nokia if they don’t release [...]
Jun 22, 2009 - 9:44 am 5. The UnPatriot:2. Michael C. Seaver:
“The great Irony of the Internet is that at the onset it was designed to be a system of open design for the free exchange of information. ”
The origins of the internet concerned the development, by the US military, of a computer network system designed to survive a nuclear bomb attack. The rest – the free exchange of ideas, online retail, blogging, downloaded ringtones, etc. – were much later “innovations.” There are many ironies about the internet, including the perceptions different people have about what it is, and what it is not.
Respectfully,
Jun 22, 2009 - 10:29 am 6. M. Report:–The UnPatriot
5. The UnPatriot > WEB < 2. Michael C. Seaver
Roger that, UnPatriot: DARPA’s net was first
Jun 22, 2009 - 10:50 am 7. Michael C. Seaver:military, then academic, finally public;
It exploded as part of the unpredictable,
unbelievable, reduction in the cost of the
hardware which provides the access we enjoy
today.
P.S. The Integrated Circuit industry which
provided the hardware was born of the need
for a controller for the Minuteman ICBM;
NASA had nada to do with it.
P.P.S. This is not a slam at you Younkers;
I lived through the whole thing, up close and
personal, and still have trouble believing it.
Ahhh…yes, UnPatriot and M.Report … to keep things simple in the classroom, (as well as in my own mind), I generally discuss the Internet and World Wide Web as integrated “public” entities. I have great respect for the Military side, or Black-Net, it’s progress, cryptography algoritms, field deployment and usage…I just find it difficult to know how much distinction can be made in short blogs; and, like M.Report, I lived through most of it, “up close and personal,” and it still boggles the mind.
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:16 am 8. Instapundit » Blog Archive » ROGER SIMON: Iran: Siemens and Nokia should jam their own equipment - or be boycotted….:[...] ROGER SIMON: Iran: Siemens and Nokia should jam their own equipment – or be boycotted. [...]
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:19 am 9. Professor Guvinoff:In spite of all the censorship efforts, the Internet is still the technological tentacle of democracy. With so many unemployed youth in Iran, you can be sure that hackers of all stripes are well aware of the free software to circumvent censorship.
The regime can obtain cooperation from foreign technology companies, but it cannot match the breath and the depth of underutilized software engineering talent among the population.
I share Roger Simon’s concerned about the logistical disadvantage of the insurgents, but they are better equipped against electronic filtering than against bullets.
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:32 am 10. stuart Williamson:What will you accomplish by boycotting Nokia? Do you think that Samsung or Sony or a Chinese cell -phone producer would have any qualms about selling Iran, or Mugabe, or Chavez the same technology?
If some technical wizards have developed this invasive capability, there’s some other technical wizards that are working on the means of destroying it or rendering it ineffective. That’s the beauty of free enterprise. The wild proliferation of cyber communication and its universsal availability to all, saints or sinners, has created an anarchic out-of-control never-neverland that defies sonstraint, a paradise for rogues and despots.
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:36 am 11. Mitch Berg:“you think that Samsung or Sony or a Chinese cell -phone producer would have any qualms about selling Iran, or Mugabe, or Chavez the same technology?”
So who keeps track of tech companies’ dealings with dictatorships?
If the answer is “nobody” – well, there’s an opportunity, no?
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:45 am 12. ben bradshaw:Pastorius, I read the book too. There is a big difference between Siemens and Nokia’s current actions within Iran (and the United States’ Cisco with Communist China) and the behavior of the isolated, virtually nationalized German branch of IBM in the late 1930’s through 1945.
Jun 22, 2009 - 12:00 pm 13. Mike_K:Pastorius, the IBM equipment consisted of punched cards and sorting machines that they had been selling for business for years. That theory about IBM having some responsibility for the Holocaust is leftist bullshit.
Jun 22, 2009 - 12:16 pm 14. david foster:“The origins of the internet concerned the development, by the US military, of a computer network system designed to survive a nuclear bomb attack”…often asserted, but not really correct. ARPA developed the ARPANET (later the Internet) to interconnect computers being used for research (military, university, government, and nonprofit) so that specialized resources could be more broadly available. The development of the (hopefully) survivable command-and-control systems was separate.
Jun 22, 2009 - 12:38 pm 15. Roger L Simon:“What will you accomplish by boycotting Nokia? Do you think that Samsung or Sony or a Chinese cell -phone producer would have any qualms about selling Iran, or Mugabe, or Chavez the same technology?”
You have a good point, Stuart Williamson, but I’m not sure that companies like Samsung or Sony would enjoy the publicity of being complicit in murders by a fascist regime. The very Siemens was living down its association with the Nazis for years (although they seem to have forgotten). Samsung or Sony too might back away in such an extreme situation with public exposure. Of course Chinese technology is another matter. They have their own agenda.
Jun 22, 2009 - 12:51 pm 16. Michael C. Seaver:David Foster … hence the OSI Model and the government grants to standardize TCP…
To ALL: This is one of the better blogs I’ve had the privilege to read. Technology and Politics – Can you control the Internet? Some very clever kids have already figured out how to plant encrypted messages in the bit patterns of digitized photographs — certain files, for example use a library to decipher the compressed picture, so it can be fully realized when “read”. Well, such libraries are used to “interpret” bit patterns…and…
Okay. The point is this: A political boycott is one thing and may be necessary to draw attention to the technology; but, while you may not be able to “jam” the ability to ready every message bit by bit, there are ways to hide things so that only the intended recipient running the correct decryption can read the “library” definition of the bits….
It’s a dance.
Jun 22, 2009 - 1:24 pm 17. Deutsch-Europäische Überwachungs-Hilfe im Iran « FREE IRAN NOW!:[...] solcher Bornierheit, sei auf Roger L. Simons Worte verwiesen: In any case, if you can construct advanced equipment of this nature, there’s a good [...]
Jun 22, 2009 - 1:58 pm 18. Ben:“..hence the OSI Model and the government grants to standardize TCP…”
Ironically, TCP/IP doesn’t exactly fit the 7-layer burrito…
Jun 22, 2009 - 3:15 pm 19. wGraves:You use PGP or something nice, then hide pseudo-random message in dithered imagery in the lowest order bits. Comeon hackers, get on it now! Someone in the community must understand NID random variables? Run the key length up. The original C code is archived in Old Dr. Dobbs stuff.
Jun 22, 2009 - 4:07 pm 20. Brian G.:And how is this any different from what Bush forced telecoms to do under the guise of the Patriot Acr and his massive abuse of executive power? Many people like me felt afraid to comment against Bush on websites like this because all of the reports that the FBI would just show up at your house under the cover of “terrorism” investigations. I am not a Christian, so under Bush that made me automatically suspect.
Not to mention it appears that the Iran election was much more legitimate that Bush’s so-called election in 2000, which he stole with the aid of his right-wing cronies on the Supreme Court. There is a reason why Obama is not getting involved, because unlike Bush he respects the outcome of an election even if it isn’t what he wants. Obama isn’t trying to force a puppet government on the people of Iran, who want to live under Islamic law and always vote to live under it.
Jun 22, 2009 - 4:34 pm 21. R. O'Donel:Brian G,
Jun 22, 2009 - 6:31 pm 22. Pastorius:You forgot to mention 9-11 and the fact that fire can’t melt steel.
Ben Bradshaw and Mike K.,
Point well-taken.
Nokia and Siemens are even worse.
I must say, I’m not sure, though, that IBM had no idea what the Germans were using the punch card technology for. You could be right, but …
Jun 22, 2009 - 6:52 pm 23. Hejde:re. Brian G….
Surely you are kidding?
Otherwise I would recommend you to seek professional help.
Did you graduate from college/university recently?
The verbalisations from the brain washed is never pretty, please seek help. You need it.
peace
hejde
Jun 22, 2009 - 7:21 pm 24. Tex Lovera:Brian G @ 20:
Drag Bush into the disussion? Check.
Anecdotal reference (”all the reports”) to BushHitler dragging people into the streets? Check.
“BUSH STOLE THE ELECTION!!OMG!!!” Check.
If the Iraninas “want to live under Islamic law and always vote to live under it”, why are there such massive protests there? Are you going to blame Rove and the Joooooos?
Fire apparently doesn’t melt tinfoil hats either.
Jun 22, 2009 - 7:44 pm 25. chi hair straightener:All these people want is the same thing that a chance for life, Liberty. Long live freedom!
Jun 22, 2009 - 11:43 pm 26. no hyphe american:Brian…#20…do you live on planet earth?…i mean…just wondering, have you been living on an island with no communication at all?? Views like this , and you are free to express your views, are why we are where we are with “the puppet president’…
The Iranians either leave their country, homes, families or live under the regime…It’s nothing like what we have/had or anything else in our country. You need to check some facts.
Pray it never is!!!
hahahah ooohhhh wait..!! i get it!!..you’re Gore just pullin our chains huh????
seriously, you are free to express your views..people in Iran are not.
Jun 23, 2009 - 2:58 pm 27. uggs:Perhaps it’s
simply the most effective way at the moment and flexibility in how our commenting system develops is in fact the most essential
attribute to it’s success…
Nov 23, 2009 - 8:34 pm