Saudi Arabia Starts Clamping Down On Encrypted VoIP Services; US And UK Strangely Silent On The Moves
from the awkward dept
Earlier this month, the messaging service Viber was blocked in Saudi Arabia. This was not entirely unexpected, since the authorities had been trying to come to grips with the service and its ability to encrypt messages for a while according to Viber's founder, as a BBC News report explains:
Mr Marco told the BBC that Saudi internet service providers and mobile operators started asking for information about the internal workings of the service a couple of months ago.
Back in March of this year, another BBC story noted that two other encrypted messaging services -- Skype and WhatsApp -- were also being told to make it possible for the authorities to eavesdrop on communications. In the wake of the Viber ban, there are now concerns that WhatsApp, Skype and the Tango messaging service may fall afoul of the Saudi authorities' desire to bring these new technologies under control.
"We assumed that the reason they wanted it was to try to figure out ways to tap into our conversations, listen to what our users are saying, read messages," he said.
A few weeks ago, this clear attempt to ensure that citizens in Saudi Arabia could be routinely spied upon when using popular new communication services would doubtless have prompted denunciations from Western countries of these clear threats to privacy and personal freedom. But in the light of the revelations about the large-scale snooping being carried out by the NSA in the US and GCHQ in the UK, that is hardly an option. This shows once more how increasing surveillance in the West gives those in other parts of the world a free pass to do the same.
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Filed Under: encryption, saudi arabia, surveillance, voip
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Good. They saved themselves more hypocrisy.
two other encrypted messaging services -- Skype and WhatsApp -- were also being told to make it possible for the authorities to eavesdrop on communications
What? Don't they already support it? Free cash with no work, if you ask me.
They probably worried that it'll used to oppress the People of Saudi Arabia. /s
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Saudi Arabia and some other Middle Eastern countries are the dirty that nobody wants to touch.
They still have some very gruesome public punishments in place.
Human rights are almost nonexistent in the Saudi fiefdom so it is no surprises there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Saudi_Arabia
http://au.ibtimes.com/ar ticles/469801/20130522/saudi-arabia-execution-5-yemenis-yemen-firing.htm
https://www.amnesty.org/en /news/saudi-arabia-five-beheaded-and-crucified-amid-disturbing-rise-executions-2013-05-21
Quote:
http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-saudi-arabia
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No one would say anything even if there wasn't any ongoing domestic scandal - thou shan't offend the people who control the oil pipe and are friendly. Not friendly people with an oil pipe get bombed into the stone age though.
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Why western governments accept those things and never talk about it?
Oil and OPEC that is why.
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Monkey see monkey do.
See: Clipper Chip. So it's no surprise at all that the US is "strangely silent." It's a case of monkey see money do.
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Re:
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The law of unintended (bot forseeable) consequences.
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Re: The law of unintended (bot forseeable) consequences.
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US does not protest Saudi eavesdropping on encrypted communications?
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Silence is compliance
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Silence
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No Issues
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About Voip Calls
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jobs in saudi arabia
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