Money Matters, Simplified.
WikiLeaks blows whistle on surveillance industry
by Jaspreet Virk - December 3, 2011 - comments
'Spy Files' marks the first release since the website was forced to halt operations after its funding was blocked last year.
Your smartphone could be spying on you! WikiLeaks has released a database of surveillance companies that hijack users' smartphones and computers to monitor their activities.
The whistle-blowing website posted 287 documents on Thursday, revealing details of more than 150 companies that are making billions by selling surveillance tools to intelligence agencies.
“Intelligence agencies, military forces and police authorities are able to silently, and on mass, and secretly intercept calls and take over computers without the help or knowledge of the telecommunication providers. Users’ physical location can be tracked if they are carrying a mobile phone, even if it is only on stand by,” wrote WikiLeaks in its reports.
Surveillance industry exposed
The documents, called 'Spy Files,' include brochures from big companies such as Cisco Systems, HP, Northop Grumman, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia-Siemens, Polaris Wireless and Harris marketing products for surveillance.
The documents date from 2006 to 2011.
“Who here has an iPhone, who has a BlackBerry, who uses Gmail? Well you’re all screwed. The reality is that intelligence operations are selling, right now, mass surveillance systems for all those products.” -- WikiLeaks' Founder Julian Assange
“Intelligence companies such as VASTech secretly sell equipment to permanently record the phone calls of entire nations,” WikiLeaks claimed.
Further, it added that companies such as SS8 in the United States, Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture virus that take control of the device and record every movement, “even the sights and sounds of the room it is in.”
According to WikiLeaks' Founder Julian Assange, all the iPhone and Blackberry users are being tracked by surveillance companies.
Speaking at a panel discussion in London on Thursday, Assange said, “Who here has an iPhone, who has a BlackBerry, who uses Gmail? Well you’re all screwed. The reality is that intelligence operations are selling, right now, mass surveillance systems for all those products.”
WikiLeaks has hinted that it will release more documents over time.
Whistle-blowing again
'Spy Files' marks the first release since the website was forced to halt operations after its funding was blocked last year.
Users can search for all the surveillance contractors on a
For the project, WikiLeaks teamed up with Bugged Planet, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Privacy International, The Washington Post, The Hindu, L’Espresso and OWNI.