Ecuador Using Copyright To Try To Take Down Leaked Documents About Its Surveillance Practices

from the copyright-as-censorship dept

Fri, Jun 28th 2013 6:10am — Mike Masnick

While Ecuador has received plenty of attention for granting asylum to Julian Assange and being one possible landing place for Ed Snowden, it's no secret that the country is not exactly known as a bastion of civil liberties protection. In fact, last year, just as it was granting Julian Assange asylum, there were reports coming out about highly questionable activities by the Ecuador government in extraditing someone who had exposed corruption. In that post, it was noted that Ecuardor scrapped its own rules requiring a warrant to investigate someone's IP address and has been known to seize the computers of critical journalists.

So, it should come as little surprise that while so much attention is on Ecuador, it was leaked to Buzzfeed that the country is in the middle of purchasing equipment for widespread surveillance, including a system called "GSM Interceptor" (subtle!) and some unmanned surveillance drones. Basically, the country does not have a great record on protecting civil liberties or freedom of the press.

But, here's where the story gets even more bizarre. Buzzfeed's reporters, Rosie Gray and Adrian Carrasquillo, had posted the various documents they got revealing these purchases on Scribd and embedded them beneath the story. Here's a screenshot:

Could there be a copyright claim? Well, unlike the US, many countries do allow government documents to be covered by a form of copyright, but even so it seems ridiculous that Ecuador is clearly using copyright to try to stifle a free press in discussing its surveillance efforts. It's yet another example of copyright being used for censorship, made doubly ironic in that it came about while trying to stifle documents about its surveillance program that only came to light because the of possibility that it might offer political asylum to Ed Snowden for revealing US surveillance. Are there any places left on earth that actually do respect basic civil liberties?

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Filed Under: censorship, copyright, ecuador, ed snowden, julian assange, leaks, surveillance

30 Comments

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Ninja (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 4:16am

Aha, throwing rocks at your neighbor when your roof is made of glass. Not surprising in the least but still sad. I'd say no country in the world is a good model right now. The ones in power have gone insane in their megalomania. It's bound to happen. Just look at your regular workplace. When some peon gets some power they quickly become little tyrants. Human nature that very few can properly control.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:31am

I'm keen to guess
Are there any places left on earth that actually do respect basic civil liberties?

How's Iceland doing these days?
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:36am

Re:
There are two major problems with politics.
1) Power seekers are the ones that seek office. They do so so they can use power to advance their own agenda.
2) Legislatures are set up as law making bodies, and so they will make laws. This sets up a trend towards totalitarianism, as more laws mean more 'control' over the population.
These two problems form a self reinforcing feedback mechanism, as it is almost impossible to gain power on a platform of doing very little or reducing the governments power, which means the more extreme type of power seekers gain power, as they are the only ones proposing new laws.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:38am

Re: I'm keen to guess
Generally I think that...

( �_�)
( �_�)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

...They're cool with it.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:40am

no! and it's mainly due to the way the USA has allowed the entertainment industries to do exactly as they please, change laws exactly as they please, increase sentences exactly as they please, use copyright exactly how they please, shutting down sites exactly how they please, getting items removed exactly how they please. instead of doing what they should have, US Congress has taken bribes to a new high, whereby a industry dealing in make believe has been allowed to turn that into reality! now everyone, everywhere is suffering the consequences!
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Ninja (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:44am

Re: I'm keen to guess
It's said they are doing alright. They do have a problem with polar bears roaming the streets though.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:52am

Are there any places left on earth that actually do respect basic civil liberties?

North Korea.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:55am

Your first mistake was assuming there were any places in the first place that respect basic civil liberties.
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dennis deems (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:56am

Ew. Daddy I do NOT want a boat like this.
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out_of_the_blue, 28 Jun 2013 @ 6:59am

As you claim for intellectual property, doesn't last in society.
A recurring notion here, as "Captain Kangarooski" tried arguing, is that the only way to keep a work yours is to live alone on a desert island, because once becomes public then you lose control. It's a false premise: gov'ts properly are to protect rights.

Copyright IS gov't protecting the civil liberty of its populace: owning one's work-product.

Now, Mike puts out a similar false premise: "Are there any places left on earth that actually do respect basic civil liberties?" -- First, I suppose you intended countries or gov'ts, not "places". -- And the answer is: NEVER WAS. Totally baseless idealism that leads to wrong world view. The nature of gov'ts and The Rich is always to NOT respect civil liberties; they do so only when the populace arms against tyranny. Even ancient Greece, the supposed "birthplace of democracy", it was only a small portion of the populace who enjoyed liberty: the rest were slaves.

One must judge particular acts, not just jingoistically support any gov't in its every act. Common law morality is what lends any gov't legitimacy, not the chance of where one was born. So, Ecuador telling the US that the treaty is dead for leverage so buzz off was most excellent. -- Yet already Mike has been overwhelmed by his copyright mania and attacks Ecuador for comparatively small flaw.
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 7:03am

Right....
Something from the department of irony+hypocrisy departments...
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John Fenderson (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 8:49am

Re:
If you think it's only (or even primarily) the entertainment industry, then you've not grasped the full scope of the problem. The undue influence is not limited to them by a longshot.
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MikeW (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 9:14am

Look outside
Are there any places left on earth that actually do respect basic civil liberties?

Every country respects civil liberties... of people not concerned with them. The US respects the civil liberties of Chinese, Ecuador respects the civil liberties of Americans, etc.
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 9:35am

Re: Re: I'm keen to guess
Iceland is actually more green. And Greenland is more icy (or was at least, I hear they've been melting lately).
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That One Guy (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 9:37am

Re: Re: I'm keen to guess
Still better than politicians doing the same.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 9:55am

GSM Interceptors and drones are perfectly justified purchases for Ecuador to make. Here in Brazil, we already have them. .

For instance, GSM interceptors are used to watch the phone calls made by inmates at prisions who use smuggled cell phones to command drug rings, while drones are deployed to watch the Amazonic frontiers. The trouble isn't the tech, the trouble is how little in the way the tech is used by Governamental Agencies is reported to the general public.
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John Fenderson (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 10:03am

Re:
GSM interceptors are used to watch the phone calls made by inmates at prisions who use smuggled cell phones to command drug rings

Wouldn't jammers be a cheaper and easier way to accomplish this goal?
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 10:18am

Re: Re:
Yeah, but there are both the inteligence aspects to consider- by listening to those calls, its possible to discover leads in the criminal structure - and the fact that an awfull amount of jails in Brazil are actually very close to urbanized areas, so when you deploy jammers, people get very annoyed - but they don't really seem to care when you explain to them that their calls are being recorded.
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Andrew D. Todd, 28 Jun 2013 @ 10:33am

Wrong Island (to: Ninja, #6)
Iceland doesn't have polar bears. That's Spitzbergen, about a thousand miles to the northeast. Iceland is not in contact with the Arctic ice cap, so the bears can't come over. Iceland has sheep and ponies.

As Erik the Red said, in naming Greenland, circa 980, you don't want to give a place a nasty name if you're trying to sell people on going there.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 10:55am

Re: As you cCopyright isn't ownership oo works, it's monopolization of them
You alreay have property rights in your work product without copyright. You already didn't have the legal right to come into my house and take my work from me and copyright law doesn't change that.

What copyright does is give you monopoly power so you can stop others from execising their own property right to take their knowledge of the product you masde and produce their own
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 11:39am

even more bizarre
"even more bizarre" is that anyone would have ever thought in the first place that Ecuador was doing this for anything but political gains, why do you think they are considering Snowden and have helped (for now) Assange ??

Because they are righteous freedom fighters ?? I don't think so, and it's only a matter of time before even you can work that out Masnick.

Assange and Snowden are pawns, they are being used for the very purposes they were against, and you have been helping the various Governments do that to these people.

You have failed to address the real issues, you appeared to understand for about 5 seconds that the message is lost, and it's all about the messenger, and who is aiding them.

you lost the plot, and it's only a matter of time before you work that out.

For now, you will enable this political manipulation of Ecuador, and ensure Assange and Snowden are well and truly used and reamed before they are fed to the hounds.

Mark my words sorry, mark my words.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 11:49am

If Snowden had any brains
He would take the first possible flight back to the US, walk into the nearest police station and hand himself in, Hand over ALL documents he 'acquired', and give the authorities full details of any copies or encryption keys, accept whatever punishment he is given (probably not that bad if he did this), or even accept a plea, and get on with the rest of his life after prison (if he even goes).. It's as simple as that, and beats the shit out of being used as a political puppet.
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Ninja (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 11:58am

Re: Wrong Island (to: Ninja, #6)
I actually happen to know polar bears aren't native to Iceland! I hope I didn't make any Icelandic angry as the purpose was to jest over the original comment.
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Ninja (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 11:59am

Re: Re: Re: I'm keen to guess
The horror. Would that be some sort of Walking Dead scenario?
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That One Guy (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 1:03pm

Re: If Snowden had any brains
Yeah, cause being at the 'mercy' of the US government after making it look bad has sure worked out great for all the other whistleblowers recently. /s
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John Fenderson (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 1:41pm

Re: even more bizarre
"even more bizarre" is that anyone would have ever thought in the first place that Ecuador was doing this for anything but political gains

"Even more bizarre" is that you seem to think that anybody ever believed that this is an altruistic move on Ecuador's part.
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John Fenderson (profile), 28 Jun 2013 @ 1:42pm

Re: If Snowden had any brains
That would be, hands down, the stupidest thing that Snowden could do.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2013 @ 7:24pm

Re: Re: If Snowden had any brains
{"That would be, hands down, the stupidest thing that Snowden could do."

We'll he already has a track record of doing stupid things, what do you suggest ?? spend the rest of his life at a Russian air port ?
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John Fenderson (profile), 29 Jun 2013 @ 10:34am

Re: Re: Re: If Snowden had any brains
I'm not sure what track record you're talking about, but that aside, what he should do depends on his goal. Taking him at his word, that his goal is to inform the American people of what's happening, then turning everything over to the US would be the opposite of achieving that goal.
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chillinfart, 4 Jul 2013 @ 9:29pm

Re: I'm keen to guess
Iceland want to reject porn. That sucks as USA or Ecuador.
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