
Mozilla accuses Finfisher of using Firefox as a cover for surveillance software - mitmads
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22372027
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rosser
_In 2011 the BBC found documents in the state security building in Egypt,
looted during the uprising, which suggested that the Hampshire-based firm had
offered to supply Finfisher to the Egyptian government to monitor activists._

How does someone do this — sell surveillance software to totalitarian states
so they can "monitor" dissidents and activists — and then sleep at night, or
face their children in the morning?

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MartinCron
Easy, they tell themselves that the software is used to monitor potential
terrorists and criminals.

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a3n
I doubt if even that fig leaf is necessary. They just sell.

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fennecfoxen
I believe there was also a question as to whether it complied with the terms
attached to the LGPL-licensed GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library.

\-- <https://citizenlab.org/2013/04/for-their-eyes-only-2/>

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drivingmenuts
Is that actually going to matter to a company like the Gamma Group, though?
They have enough governmental cover that they can pretty much do what they
want, it seems like.

I'm genuinely asking - how do you even begin to prosecute a violation by a
company like that?

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betterunix
In theory, the British government has not been above the law for 800 years. If
the government will give this company a free pass on trademark and copyright
violations, then I guess those 800 years have come to an end.

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RexRollman
I like how that say that it is " legitimate surveillance software". In my
opinion, there is no such thing, regardless of its legality.

