When US-made 'censorware' ends up in iron fists

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1010/p01s01-ussc.html?page=2
 
from the October 10, 2007 edition - 
When US-made 'censorware' ends up in iron fists

...

ONI testing in 2005 indicated that Burma censored the Internet using
software made by Fortinet, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company. The firm, says ONI,
responded by saying it doesn't sell software directly to end-users. ONI
challenges Fortinet's claim, pointing to a 2004 article, reachable online,
by the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper. The story covers a ceremony
bringing together Burma's prime minister and Benjamin Teh, described as "an
official representative of Fortinet." 

...

Other ONI research revealed that Iranian Internet service providers (ISPs)
have used filtering software of two other California firms: Websense Inc.
and Secure Computing Corp. 

A Websense spokeswoman denies the firm has sold software to Iran, which
would be illegal. A published study by Nart Villeneuve at the University of
Toronto found that from 2004 to 2005 the Iranian ISP ParsOnline used
Websense's product. By 2006, the ISP had dropped Websense, he said in an
e-mail. 

...

Secure Computing has said publicly in the past that the Iranians may have
obtained an illegal copy of its software. A company executive, Atri
Chatterjee, says the software, called SmartFilter, would still function
without frequent database updates from Secure Computing, though at a
degraded capacity. Such updates could also be obtained illicitly, he says. 

ONI also found in 2005 that Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates,
countries with Internet censorship, use SmartFilter. The company wouldn't
confirm or deny. 

"We are a US organization that adheres to US rules. We only do business with
organizations and countries we are approved to do business with," says Mr.
Chatterjee. 

That position is echoed by Blue Coat Systems Inc., whose sales materials
have boasted that Internet access across Saudi Arabia is "monitored and
controlled" by its technology. 

...

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