Scale of authoritarian surveillance exposed
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2022 8:02 amEveryone knows that China's people languish under the watchful eye of Big Brother, but an NYT investigation has today lifted the lid on just how the local state security apparatus monitors its own people's every move.
Surprisingly, it is using Israeli spy software. In a secret deal signed in 2019, government spies bought copies of a software - designed for spying on dissidents and journalists - that enables them to turn any phone in the country into their own remote surveillance device, tracking all residents' movements and communications. This software can be used not only to monitor the country's own citizens, but also to snoop on and access information brought into the region by foreign visitors.
Many are already calling for a boycott of Chinese smartphones and for officials to start taking burner devices - stripped of any sensitive information - to China on any future visits.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/worl ... yware.html
Surprisingly, it is using Israeli spy software. In a secret deal signed in 2019, government spies bought copies of a software - designed for spying on dissidents and journalists - that enables them to turn any phone in the country into their own remote surveillance device, tracking all residents' movements and communications. This software can be used not only to monitor the country's own citizens, but also to snoop on and access information brought into the region by foreign visitors.
Many are already calling for a boycott of Chinese smartphones and for officials to start taking burner devices - stripped of any sensitive information - to China on any future visits.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/worl ... yware.html