You may (may not) remember the TV show, Mission Impossible. It had a cast of regulars who formed a spy team to undertake “impossible” tasks that could not be traced back to the U.S. government.
Stories like: BAE Systems Sells Internet Surveillance Gear to United Arab Emirates make me wish for a non-nationalistic, modern equivalent of the Mission Impossible team.
You may recall the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were behind the attempted hack of Ahmed Mansoor, a prominent human rights activist.
So much for the UAE needing spyware for legitimate purposes.
From the article:
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In a written statement, BAE Systems said, “It is against our policy to comment on contracts with specific countries or customers. BAE Systems works for a number of organizations around the world, within the regulatory frameworks of all relevant countries and within our own responsible trading principles.”The Danish Business Authority told Andersen it found no issue approving the export license to the Ministry of the Interior of the United Arab Emirates after consulting with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite regulations put in place by the European Commission in October 2014 to control exports of spyware and internet surveillance equipment out of concern for human rights. The ministry told Andersen in an email it made a thorough assessment of all relevant concerns and saw no reason to deny the application.
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It doesn’t sound like any sovereign government is going to restrain BAE Systems and/or the UAE.
Consequences for their mis-deeds will have to come from other quarters.
Like the TV show started every week:
Your assignment, should you choose to accept it….