IP: A Report on the International Trade in Surveillance

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: http://www.privacy.org/pi/reports/big_bro/




A Report on the International Trade in Surveillance Technology and its Links
to the Arms Industry.


London
November 1995


CONTENTS


Summary 


Overview and analysis of report 


Directory of companies in the report 


Company List (local slow link) (remote fast link)


Link to US State Department of State 1994 Human Rights Guide 


Glossary of acronyms and terms 


SUMMARY


This report presents a detailed analysis of the international trade in
surveillance technology. Its' primary concern is the flow of sophisticated
computer-based technology from developed countries to
developing countries - and particularly to non-democratic regimes. It is in
this environment where surveillance technologies become technologies of
political control. 


Surveillance technologies can be defined as technologies which can monitor,
track and assess the movements, activities and communications of
individuals. These include an array of visual recording
devices, bugging equipment, computer information systems and identification
systems. These innovations are used by military, police and intelligence
authorities as technologies of repression.


The surveillance trade is almost indistinguishable from the arms trade. More
than seventy per cent of companies manufacturing and exporting surveillance
technology also export arms, chemical
weapons, or military hardware. Surveillance is a crucial element for the
maintenance of any non-democratic infrastructure, and is an important
activity in the pursuit of intelligence and political control.
Many countries in transition to democracy also rely heavily on surveillance
to satisfy the demands of police and military. The technology described in
this report makes possible mass surveillance of
populations. In the past, regimes relied on targeted surveillance.


Big Brother Incorporated is the first investigation ever conducted into this
trade. Privacy International intends to update the report from time to time
as more information becomes available. 


The report identifies the trade with such countries as Nigeria, China,
Angola, Rwanda Zambia and Indonesia. More than 80 British companies are
involved, making the UK the world leader in this
field. Other countries, in order of significance, are the United States,
France, Israel, the Netherlands and Germany.


It is derived from company information, trade fair data, annual reports and
media reports. It lists the companies, their directors, products and
exports. In each case, source material is meticulously
cited. Addresses and contact numbers are as current as possible but in some
cases these will be out of date.


OVERVIEW OF THE REPORT


Numerous investigations and reports in the past decade have highlighted the
extent to which the global arms trade nurtures and supports brutal and
repressive regimes across the world. The industry
and its participants have been put under the microscope by a number of
parliamentary inquiries in Europe and North America. Without exception,
these have uncovered a complex and profitable
trade with few controls and with no ethical compass.


Big Brother Incorporated is concerned with a parallel activity involving
many companies involved in the arms trade. The international trade in
surveillance technology (sometimes known as the
Repression Trade) involves the manufacture and export of technologies of
political control. These technologies involve sophisticated computer-based
technology which vastly increases the power of
authorities.


Amongst the products involved are : 


* telephone interception equipment 


* bugging devices 


* police and military information systems 


* ID cards 


* "System X" telephone systems


* communications logging systems 


* micro-cameras 


* parabolic microphones 


* automatic transcription systems 


* infra red scopes 


* night vision equipment 


* advanced CCTV equipment 


* geographic information systems 


* vehicle tracking technology 


* automated fingerprint systems 


* biometric technology 


* cellular intercept systems 


* computer intercept systems 


* crowd analysis and monitoring technology 


* data matching programs


Much of this technology is used to track the activities of dissidents, human
rights activists, journalists, student leaders, minorities, trade union
leaders, and political opponents. It is also useful for
monitoring larger sectors of the population. With this technology, the
financial transactions, communications activity and geographic movements of
millions of people can be captured, analyzed and
transmitted cheaply and efficiently. The emerging information and
communications infrastructures of countries can be hijacked for limitless
surveillance purposes.


In the absence of meaningful legal or constitutional protections, such
technology is inimical to democratic reform. It can certainly prove fatal to
anyone "of interest" to a regime.


Western surveillance technology is providing invaluable support to military
and totalitarian authorities throughout the world. British computer firm ICL
(International Computers Limited) provided the
technological infrastructure to establish the South African automated
Passbook system, upon which much of the functioning of the Apartheid regime
depended. In the late 1970s Security Systems
International supplied security technology to Idi Amin's brutal regime in
Uganda.


In the 1980s, Israeli company Tadiram developed and exported the technology
for the computerized death list used by the Guatemalan police. Meanwhile,
companies such as PK Electronics
routinely provide the Chinese authorities with bugging equipment and
telephone tapping devices.


The extent of Western support for inhumane regimes is widespread. The
notorious human rights abuses in Indonesia - particularly those affecting
East Timor - would not be possible without the
strategic and technological support of Western companies. Amongst those
companies supplying the Indonesian police and military with surveillance and
targeting technology are Morpho Systems
(France), De la Rue Printak (UK), EEV Night Vision (UK), ICL (UK), Marconi
Radar and Control Systems (UK), Pyser (UK), Siemens Plessey Defense Systems
(UK) Rockwell International
Corporation (USA) and SWS Security (USA). These and other corporations
supply the intelligence gathering and identification systems necessary to
pursue a program of ethnic cleansing.


This technology is exported to virtually all countries with appalling human
rights records. Nigeria is supplied by such companies as Codalex (Canada)
and Continental Microwave (UK). Companies
supplying to Chinese authorities are numerous, but include Phillips
(Netherlands) EEV Night Vision (UK), GEC Marconi (UK), GPT-Plessey Telecom
(UK), Pilkington PE Ltd (UK) and Siemens
Plessey (UK).


The Thailand Central Population Database and ID card system, developed by
the US based Control Data Systems, involves sophisticated intelligence that
has been used for political purposes by the
Thai military. This integrated system creates an ID card, electronic
fingerprint and facial image, and electronic data link involving the entire
population. It spans most government agencies and is
controlled by the powerful military/police dominated Interior Ministry. 


Databases in the Thai system include : Central Population Database, National
Election System, Political Party Database, Political Member Database, Voter
listing, Electronic Minority Group
Registration System, Electronic Fingerprint Identification System,
Electronic Face Identification System, Population and House Report System,
National Tax Collection System, Village Information
System, Secret Information System, Public Opinion System, Criminal
Investigation System, National Security System, Social Security System,
Passport Control System, Driver Control System, Gun
Registration, Family Registration, Alien Control System and Immigration
Control System. 


Similar ID card and "smart" card systems have been marketed to more than two
dozen developing countries. Without exception, they result in wholesale
discrimination and hardship for vulnerable
people. Such systems can adversely affect the delicate balance pursued by an
emerging democracy. The adoption of Information Technology (IT) involves a
change to the relationship between
citizen and the State. The use of surveillance technologies vastly increases
this change.


The justification advanced by the companies involved in this trade is
identical to the justification advanced in the arms trade - i.e. that the
technology is neutral. Privacy International's view is that in
the absence of legal protections, the technology can never be neutral. Even
those technologies intended for "benign" uses rapidly develop more sinister
purposes. The UK manufactured "Scoot"
traffic control cameras in Beijing's Tianamen Square were automatically
employed as surveillance cameras during the student demonstrations. Images
captured from the cameras was broadcast over
Chinese television to ensure that the offending students were captured. 


The emerging Information Superhighway also poses fundamental threats to
developing countries (the Superhighway is a metaphor for the convergence of
information and communications systems to
form a national and international information web. The 1995 summit of the G7
(the seven richest industrial powers) linked arms with some of the most
dominant corporations in the technology
industry to form a consensus about how the Superhighway should be built.
They agreed to a set of principles that would maximize growth, development
and profit. Relatively little attention was paid
to the negative impact of the Superhighway on developing countries and on
the rights and privacy of citizens of all countries. 


Martin Bangermann, Europe's Commissioner in charge of information
technology, has remarked "We will not achieve the Information Society unless
we give the free market a free rein". In the
context of the trade in surveillance technologies to third world countries,
this signals a "hands off" policy. An unregulated Superhighway is likely to
maximize surveillance and increase the power of
institutions in control of the technology.


It should be a source of grave concern that the world's telecommunications
and computer companies have been moving to force government to back away
from regulating information technology. In
1994, under the leadership of US Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS), a consortium of the world's leading companies have formed
the Global Information Infrastructure
Commission (GIIC). Headed by the president of Mitsubishi, the chairman of
EDS, and the vice chairman of Siemens Corporation, the GIIC intends to
create a conglomerate of interests powerful
enough to subsume government interest in regulation. 


The effort is being funded to a large extent by the World Bank, which in
early 1994 appears to have been persuaded by CSIS that unregulated economic
investment was more important to
developing economies than social and political reform. The corporate sector,
argued CSIS, can deliver this economic reform along the Superhighway. And
they can do it best if they, not the
governments, take the lead. 


The unregulated development and export of these technologies creates grave
and unnecessary threats to developing countries. The trade requires scrutiny
and regulation to help minimize the fatal
impact that it can cause. Whether this impact is intended or unforseen, the
surveillance industry has a responsibility to ensure that the export and
development of its products conform to scrupulous
ethical standards. Developed countries should ensure that the export
industry is regulated. Technological assessment must be a pre-requisite.


This report is by no means comprehensive. It omits numerous government-led
systems. For example, the notorious PROMIS surveillance software marketed
throughout the world by the US Justice
Department has led to widespread fears about the creation of an
international tracking system for individuals "of interest". The US, French
and British governments' moves to limit effective encryption
systems is also of profound importance to developing countries, but is not
dealt with in any detail here. These and many other issues will be explored
in updates of Big Brother Incorporated We are
hoping that interested people will contact us to provide further information
on this trade. We also welcome "clarification" of the facts by the companies
named in this report.


Privacy International wishes to acknowledge the invaluable advice and
assistance of a number of people and organizations in the preparation of Big
Brother Incorporated. Because of the sensitive
nature of the report's contents, we have agreed that they should remain
anonymous. However, the invaluable support of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC) in Washington DC is
gratefully acknowledged.


The report was prepared on an entirely voluntary basis. It has not been
financially supported by any individual or organization.