Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Sprint was smart to blackball China's ZTE

Back in November, I wrote about Sprint excluding the Chinese company ZTE based largely on security concerns. Now, the WSJ has reported (again, on today's front page below the fold) that Lybian intelligence used ZTE gear to track down (and probably murder) rebels. Good job, Sprint! I might buy my next cellphone plan from you guys.

To be fair to China, the French technology firm Amesys (part of Bull SA) installed the Libyan monitoring center. In the story, a small South African supplier (Vastech) refused to comment on their involvement, but said that they sell only "to governments that are internationally recognized by the UN. and are not subject to international sanctions. The relevant U.N., U.S. and EU rules are complied with." That should be swell consolation to the families of dissidents who got "disappeared" by Gadhafi intelligence goons.

I'd like to see the names of all companies who contracted directly to supply Libyan cybercontrol systems. Maybe the dissidents who have retaken the Libyan data centers will take a close look at the file cabinets for signed contracts, which they will then make public.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?