After MoJo Investigation, US Company Admits Its Technology Used in Syria

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/khalidalbaih/5837499142/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Khalid Albaih</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On October 19, Mother Jones reported that the autocratic Syrian regime was using internet filtering technology produced by a California company, Blue Coat Systems, to aid its crackdown on dissidents. On Saturday, after 10 days of heightened media scrutiny and the launch of a State Department inquiry, the company finally admitted what publicly available electronic records made obvious, telling the Wall Street Journal that Syria did in fact use its products.

A Blue Coat spokesman told Mother Jones that the company never sold its technology to Syria. So how did the equipment get there? Blue Coat told the Journal it’s all a big misunderstanding: “[Blue Coat] shipped the Internet ‘filtering’ devices to Dubai late last year, believing they were destined for a department of the Iraqi government. However, the devices—which can block websites or record when people visit them—made their way to Syria.” Of course, selling the technology to Syria—a country subjected to strict sanctions—would violate US law. Blue Coat has told Mother Jones that it does not allow its customers to resell its products to embargoed countries.

Telecomix, a tech activist group, released electronic records in early October that tech experts said proved Syria was using Blue Coat technology to prevent the public from accessing particular websites. Jacob Appelbaum, a tech expert and computer science researcher, told Mother Jones that it was clear the records connected Blue Coat and Syria: “Every IP address in all of the information released is registered in Syria,” he said. And Blue Coat’s technology can do more than just filter the internet, Appelbaum added: “It’s a super policeman with a general warrant who spies on every person, records everything about that person and their activities and then it acts as the judge, jury and executioner.” 

“We don’t want our products to be used by the government of Syria or any other country embargoed by the United States,” a Blue Coat senior vice president told the Journal. But although Blue Coat is “saddened by the human suffering and loss of human life” in Syria, the company “cannot confirm how the appliances were transferred from the point of shipment or from Iraq to Syria.”

The State Department, which is looking into the matter, was already aware of the Blue Coat-Syria connection, but the Journal reported that the Department of Commerce has also opened an investigation.

As we noted in our article, Blue Coat’s legal liability for Syria’s use of its equipment is somewhat limited. If Blue Coat customers were required to agree to not transfer the technology to embargoed countries, the company is likely in the clear. “Blue Coat has no legal liability beyond their original sale providing they acquired this and can produce it,” George A. Lopez, a peace studies professor and sanctions expert at Notre Dame University, told us earlier this month.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate