On 10 April, Al Jazeera revealed how “surprisingly simple” it can be to circumvent sanctions and export control on cyber surveillance technologies. Al Jazeera’s four-month undercover investigation exposed the practices of merchants who sell spyware technologies as a “wi-fi router” and thereby readily escape from authorities’ export control radar. The investigation brought to light, for instance, an Italian communications company’s readiness to execute a 20-million euro deal to export to Iran an IP-intercept system which could be used for spying citizens. The company may be able to evade the EU’s export control by labelling the intercept Continue reading →