Last year Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) has delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran’s state-owned telephone company. According to NSN, the servers were sold for “lawful intercept functionality”. This term is used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement’s ability to “tap phones, read e-mails and surveil electronic data on communications networks”. (link 1) [please find the links at the right column]
NSN denies that the monitoring center sold to Iran can be used for monitoring or cencorship of the internet traffic, but it admits that the system has the capability to conduct voice monitoring of local calls on Iran’s fixed and mobile telephone network. (link 2)
True, the monitoring system may be used to prevent criminal and terrorist activities in democratic countries where violation of privacy is subject to court’s permission. But in a country like Iran, “Lawful Interception” means much more than this. It means continuous violation of basic human rights of freedom seekers. So, even if we blindly accept NSN’s statement, it is not difficult to understand that the monitoring system serves the Iranian regime to track, trace and hunt down its opponents, especially on these crucial days. And those opponents are being subjects to arrests, battery, torture, and some of them may be subjects to execution.
http://shariatmadari.wwebb.info/nokia-siemens-monitoring-system/
