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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsExclusive: Documents Illuminate Ecuador’s Spying Practices
The country where anti-surveillance hero Edward Snowden wants to take refuge spent half a million dollars on an Israeli-made GSM interceptor in a deal brokered by a U.S. middleman. Seeking the capacity to intercept text messages, falsify and modify the text messages among other tricks.
WASHINGTON The intelligence agency of Ecuador appears to have sought in recent months to obtain new equipment for a large-scale surveillance, according to confidential government documents obtained by BuzzFeed.
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The Ecuadorian documents stamped Secret obtained by BuzzFeed appear to show the government purchasing a GSM Interceptor system, among other domestic spying tools, and they suggest a commitment to domestic surveillance that rivals the practices by the United States National Security Agency that are at the center of a fierce national debate. They include both covert surveillance capacities and the targeting of President Rafael Correas enemies on social media. According to the files, SENAIN keeps close tabs on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of journalists, opposition politicians and other individuals, some with few followers.
Ecuador, which has been harboring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for over a year at its embassy, has been internationally criticized for a recent communications law that is widely seen as a gag order for the media and includes prohibitions on media lynching.
Ecuador also has a record of being ahead of the game in domestic surveillance. Last year, it became the first country in the world to implement a nation-wide facial and voice recognition system.
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http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/exclusive-documents-illuminate-ecuadors-spying-practices
Oh, the irony.
The Errors of Edward Snowden and His Global Hypocrisy Tour
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023112872
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)By the way:
The Ecuadorian documents stamped Secret obtained by BuzzFeed appear to show the government purchasing a GSM Interceptor system, among other domestic spying tools, and they suggest a commitment to domestic surveillance that rivals the practices by the United States National Security Agency that are at the center of a fierce national debate.
Your link.
So when will you be attacking buzzfeed, the author of the buzzfeed article, and the person who gave the author access to these alleged secret documents?
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"So when will you be attacking buzzfeed, the author of the buzzfeed article, and the person who gave the author access to these alleged secret documents?"
...point is the dripping irony across all aspects of the story.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023110603
The Errors of Edward Snowden and His Global Hypocrisy Tour
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023112872
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)it is aligned with your political agenda. Ok then. Me too.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)"So the answer is that you have no problem with the leaking of state secrets when it is aligned with your political agenda."
I mean, I have a problem with an American leaking state secrets to other countries. I'm sure Ecuador has a problem with one of its citizens leaking its state secrets.
You seem to have no problem with an American leaking state secrets to other countries, almost to the point of cheering those countries.
You appear defensive in the face of the hypocrisy of these countries.
patrice
(47,992 posts)That is, you and I and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
MineralMan
(146,331 posts)They can, so they do.
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)the US on hacking and surveillance of their own people and spying on the United States in the cases of China and Russia. I'm actually thinking that there's a new alliance being formed that is of concern. One that rivals a certain situation in the early 1960s in our hemisphere.
Cuba doesn't have the money or natural resources to maintain what's needed. Venezuela does. Ecuador, since defaulting on $billions in debt has been in better shape. But what is their resource? I don't know enough about the country to know how they could support a technological and military buildup.
patrice
(47,992 posts)WORSE in the case of the most oppressed and disempowered on Earth.
patrice
(47,992 posts)land-locked Paraguay, the location of huge Bush family holdings sitting on top of one of the world's last and biggest fresh water aquifers . . .
DevonRex
(22,541 posts)Yes, coastal location. Four major rivers feed the Amazon. And do not forget altitude which comes in handy in some forms of collection. And they do collect SIGINT on their own people and others.
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)it is all part of the same mindset.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)They apparently don't have a 4th amendment in Ecuador.