The American think tank and research institute, Atlantic Council, recently shared a study where they indicate that Cybersurveillance companies are being careless with who they sell their services to and it is becoming a matter of national security. This report by the Atlantic Council compiled data from the past 20 years from the cyber-surveillance trade show ISS World as well as the arms fairs such as Milipol and examined 224 surveillance companies who have been present at these events. From this research, there were many companies that were associated with a negative history of shady dealings. Among these include, Israel’s Cellebrite, a company that develops forensic tools as well as phone hacking capabilities and played a role in China’s Crackdown; furthermore, it also came to light that their services were being used by a death squad in Bangladesh.
It seems pretty clear that these cyber-surveillance companies need to be more regulated regarding who they are allowed to provide their services; moreover, these companies should be forced to implement more sophisticated screening procedures in order to prevent their technology from falling into the wrong hands. Although the European Union and the United States have already implemented stricter laws on surveillance technology, it still leaves a vast portion of the world that remains unpoliced regarding this problem.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/11/08/1039395/grim-outlook-cyber-boom-atlantic-council-report/
Cyber surveillance is definitely an important topic. The internet is not regulated enough and the authorities should pursue actions in this matter. Although the privacy of internet users needs to be respected.
I think that this topic is such sensitive, that you can’t really maintain the balance between privacy and safety with all this surveillance. And if it is impossible, then it is better not to strengthen the spying, because the history shows us that in with such choices people usually lose their privacy completely without gaining actual secuirty. As Benjamin Franklin once said: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.
I agree with your comment. Though I do believe that it is impossible to maintain the balance between safety and privacy. Unfortunately, it seems that people are already giving up on privacy for the sake of a sense of security. And sometimes, it also looks like there is no way to obtain that privacy again 😀