Nigeria Closer To Bringing In Comprehensive Internet And Phone Spying System, Probably Complete With Third-Party Backdoors
from the now-would-be-a-good-time-to-think-again dept
One of the unfortunate consequences of the revelations about NSA spying on just about everyone is that it creates a false impression that such activities are really quite normal these days, and nothing much to worry about. This probably encourages nations that don't carry out such comprehensive snooping on their populations to think about doing so. In Nigeria, for example, a proposal is making its way through the legislative process that would grant the Nigerian government wide-ranging surveillance powers, as reported here by Premium Times:
If given a third reading eventually, approved by the House of Representatives, and signed into law by the president, law enforcement agencies will have the powers to monitor and seize Internet and phone data-including emails, text messages, phone records and more -- from several millions of Nigerians, a privilege many Nigerians fear will be abused.
Given what we now know about the NSA and GCHQ, those fears are obviously well founded. But it turns out that there is another interesting aspect of this move, which concerns the equipment to be used for the surveillance:
The bill came months after PREMIUM TIMES uncovered the federal government's secret $40 million contract to an Israeli technology firm, which will provide the technical infrastructure and the skill to snoop on the digital activities of Nigerians.
In the light of the recent information about backdoors being placed in many key commercial systems, does anyone really doubt that the equipment to spy on Nigerians will have its own backdoors that the Israeli secret service can use to access the sensitive information gathered by the Nigerian authorities? Or that some or all of that will flow to the US and its allies? That's maybe another good reason for Nigerian politicians to think twice before going ahead with these dangerous and disproportionate plans.
The clandestine programme, awarded to Elbit Systems, with headquarters in Haifa, will allow the government spy on citizens' computers and Internet communications and emails under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: nigeria, surveillance
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This means they will put a stop to the email fraud - right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
This will be a first though. US leading the way in taking away the few rights its people still had.
The rest of the world will likely follow us into oblivion.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Welcome to the First World?
After all, at their foremost University, a student is being praised for ludicriously applying "science" to prove homosexuality is wrong/impossible and hailed as a future Nobel prize winner. (Hey, if Obama got the PEACE one, why not?)
If only they would follow the lead of the developed world in its GOOD aspects...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Truly leaders...
"America! Leading the world in overthrowing governments, setting up puppet regimes, creating terrorist groups, economic bullying and trampling national sovereignty for over a century!"...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've been hired as a subcontractor on this project!
FINALLY I will quit getting ripped off by all those damn Nigerian scams!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]