The Israeli-American firm Verint Sy

The Israeli-American firm Verint Systems looks set to win another mass public surveillance contract in South Asia, this time in Bangladesh.

The Dhaka-based newspaper The Daily Star reported last week that Verint is one of several firms set to share a Ministry of Home Affairs contract for the mass wiretapping of Bangladeshi phone and internet communications.

This is the latest example of technology Israel developed to intercept Palestinian telecommunications being exported for governments abroad to monitor their citizenry.

Bangladesh formed the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC) in 2010 to expand its surveillance capabilities. The Bangladeshi government at the time could monitor and record no more than 5,000 devices at one time. Later technology expanded that reach to 50,000 devices in 2013.

According to The Daily Star, the “present NTMC monitoring system is old and lacks the capacity to control the modern information technology.” The paper explains that “more modern equipment is required to assume more control over obstructing or recording users’ telephonic or online communications so that intelligence activities could be conducted more smoothly.”

To enhance its capabilities the NTMC is buying a series of monitoring systems from seven firms including Verint Systems.

Selling anti-Palestinian expertise
Unit 8200 is the technology division of the Israeli military’s Intelligence Corps. Former Unit 8200 member Idan Tendler explained in March that ”instead of relying on outside research and development, the 8200’s technologists work directly with their ‘customers’ (the intelligence officers). All of the unit’s technology systems, from analytics to data mining, intercept, and intelligence management, are designed and built in-house. Technologists sit side by side with their users on a daily basis to ensure that their ‘products’ meet the intelligence officers’ specific requirements.”

Another former Unit 8200 officer, Gil Kerbs, wrote in 2007 how Verint’s then most popular system the Logger “is based on the Unit’s technology.”

Unit 8200 and other elite Israeli military units are “the nation’s equivalent of Harvard, Princeton and Yale” and their “graduates, after leaving service, can parlay their cutting-edge snooping and hacking skills into jobs in Israel, Silicon Valley or Boston’s high-tech corridor.”

As The Financial Times reports, the education comes from, “snoop[ing] on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank or naval and air blockade in the Gaza Strip, according to a whistle-blowing leak that created a stir last year. In an open letter in September 2014, published by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper and broadcast on Channel 10, a group of 43 serving and former 8200 reservists revealed what they said were coercive spying tactics being used on innocent Palestinians, including the collection of embarrassing sexual, financial or other information.”

That data collection and surveillance of Palestinians is the basis for the technological expertise ex-Israeli military personnel bring to Verint and other Israeli security and surveillance firms. This is what is now sought by the Bangladeshi government.

The Bangladeshi government says the system will be deployed to surveil “criminals” and those that threaten national security. The government has been repressing Bangladesh’s ongoing labor insurgency raising concerns about what populations the government is defining as criminal.

Verint has sold similar mass telecom surveillance systems to India, Mexico and most famously, to the United States where Verint was implicated with another Israeli firm in the National Security Agency wiretapping scandal.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Israel-Amerika perusahaan Verint sistem tampak diatur untuk memenangkan kontrak pengawasan publik massal lain di Asia Selatan, kali ini di Bangladesh.Berbasis di Dhaka koran The Daily Star melaporkan pekan lalu bahwa Verint adalah salah satu beberapa perusahaan yang ditetapkan untuk berbagi kontrak Departemen dalam negeri untuk massa penyadapan Bangladesh komunikasi telepon dan internet.Ini adalah contoh terbaru teknologi Israel dikembangkan untuk mencegat Palestina telekomunikasi diekspor bagi pemerintah di luar negeri untuk memantau warga mereka.Bangladesh membentuk Nasional telekomunikasi pemantauan pusat (NTMC) di tahun 2010 untuk memperluas kemampuan pengawasan. Pemerintah Bangladesh pada waktu yang dapat memonitor dan mencatat tidak lebih dari 5.000 perangkat pada satu waktu. Kemudian teknologi berkembang yang mencapai 50.000 perangkat pada tahun 2013.Menurut The Daily Star, "sekarang NTMC, sistem pemantauan tua dan tidak memiliki kemampuan untuk mengendalikan teknologi informasi modern." Kertas menjelaskan bahwa "perlengkapan yang lebih modern diperlukan untuk menanggung lebih banyak kontrol atas menghalangi atau rekaman komunikasi lewat telepon atau online pengguna sehingga aktivitas intelijen dapat dilakukan lebih lancar."Untuk meningkatkan kemampuan NTMC adalah membeli serangkaian sistem dari tujuh perusahaan termasuk Verint sistem pemantauan.Menjual keahlian anti-PalestinaUnit 8200 adalah divisi teknologi Korps intelijen militer Israel. Unit 8200 mantan anggota Idan Tendler menjelaskan pada bulan Maret bahwa "daripada mengandalkan luar penelitian dan pengembangan, teknologi 8200's bekerja secara langsung dengan mereka 'pelanggan' (petugas intelijen). Semua sistem teknologi unit, dari analytics data pertambangan, mencegat dan manajemen intelijen, dirancang dan dibangun di rumah. Teknologi duduk berdampingan dengan pengguna mereka setiap hari untuk memastikan bahwa mereka 'produk' memenuhi persyaratan tertentu aparat intelejen." Lain mantan Unit 8200 perwira, Gil tepi jalan, menulis dalam 2007 cara Verint's kemudian paling populer sistem Logger "didasarkan pada teknologi Unit."Unit 8200 dan lain elit unit militer Israel adalah "bangsa setara dengan Harvard, Princeton dan Yale" dan mereka "lulusan, setelah meninggalkan layanan, dapat meningkatkan mereka snooping mutakhir dan menyusup keterampilan ke pekerjaan di Israel, Silicon Valley atau Boston berteknologi tinggi koridor."As The Financial Times reports, the education comes from, “snoop[ing] on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank or naval and air blockade in the Gaza Strip, according to a whistle-blowing leak that created a stir last year. In an open letter in September 2014, published by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper and broadcast on Channel 10, a group of 43 serving and former 8200 reservists revealed what they said were coercive spying tactics being used on innocent Palestinians, including the collection of embarrassing sexual, financial or other information.”That data collection and surveillance of Palestinians is the basis for the technological expertise ex-Israeli military personnel bring to Verint and other Israeli security and surveillance firms. This is what is now sought by the Bangladeshi government.The Bangladeshi government says the system will be deployed to surveil “criminals” and those that threaten national security. The government has been repressing Bangladesh’s ongoing labor insurgency raising concerns about what populations the government is defining as criminal.Verint has sold similar mass telecom surveillance systems to India, Mexico and most famously, to the United States where Verint was implicated with another Israeli firm in the National Security Agency wiretapping scandal.