Tools of mass communication that were once the
province of governments and corporations now fit
in your pocket. Cell phones can capture video and
send it wirelessly to the Internet. People can
send eyewitness accounts, photos and videos, with
a few keystrokes, to thousands or even millions
via social networking sites. As these
technologies have developed, so too has the
ability to monitor, filter, censor and block them.
A Wall Street Journal report this week claimed
that the "Iranian regime has developed, with the
assistance of European telecommunications
companies, one of the worldâs most
sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and
censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine
the content of individual online communications
on a massive scale." The article named Nokia
Siemens Networks as the provider of equipment
capable of "deep packet inspection." DPI,
according to the Electronic Privacy Information
Center, "enables Internet Service Providers to
intercept virtually all of their customersâ
Internet activity, including Web surfing data,
e-mail and peer-to-peer downloads."
Nokia Siemens has refuted the allegation, saying
in a press release that the company "has provided
Lawful Intercept capability solely for the
monitoring of local voice calls in Iran." It is
this issue, of what is legal, that must be
addressed. "Lawful intercept" means that people
can be monitored, located and censored. Global
standards need to be adopted that protect the
freedom to communicate, to dissent.
<http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090623_free_speech_vs_surveillance_in_the_digital_age/>Link
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Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2009/06/free-speech-vs-surveillance-in-digital.htm>monochrom
at 6/25/2009 01:19:00 PM
