Aren't Corporations always pretty?

[la_vie_noire]

Via unusualmusic.

Fed contractor, cell phone maker sold spy system to Iran

Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran's state-owned telephone company.

A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for "lawful intercept functionality," a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement's ability to tap phones, read e-mails and surveil electronic data on communications networks.

In Iran, a country that frequently jails dissidents and where regime opponents rely heavily on Web-based communication with the outside world, a monitoring center that can archive these intercepts could provide a valuable tool to intensify repression.

Just. Amazing.

Comments

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

People who make deals with the Iranian government to the detriment of the people of their country's armed forces and intelligence agencies might be traitors. I'm just saying.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Pretty much.

[makotomitsunari.livejournal.com]

U-u

[outou.livejournal.com]

It makes me glad that I didn't go for the Siemens hearing aids. Unfortunately, such a thing isn't all too surprising--a large company will almost always seek its own survival (i.e., profit) above moral concerns.

What I am shocked about is NSN's failure to realize that the monitoring center could be used against Iranian citizens.

[daniela-lynx.livejournal.com]

I don't think they didn't realize. I just think they didn't care.

[(Anonymous)]

...it's that lack of empathy that I don't understand. How does one--or how does a group of people, in this case--make a decision that will only benefit oneself, and definitely cause harm to many others?

I know I wrote that a large corporation will always put profit before morals, but I can't help but wonder what those employees of NSN directly responsible to the sale really think. Do they feel shame, or have they found a way to justify it for themselves?

[daniela-lynx.livejournal.com]

... I. Maybe I'm being prejudiced, but I think, those high executives? They aren't at the top because they are honest, good people. Probably they have it justified with a "we're selling a service, it's not our responsability what the buyer does with it" phillosophy. Neoliberalism is nauseating like that.