Internet Surveillance Firm Sandvine Says It's Leaving 56 'Non-Democratic' Countries

Sandvine, the makers of surveillance-ware that allowed authoritarian countries to censor the internet and spy on their citizens, announced that it is leaving dozens of "non-democratic" countries as part of a major overhaul of the company. From a report: The company, which was founded in Canada, published a statement on Thursday, claiming that it now wants to be "a technology solution leader for democracies." As part of this new strategy, Sandvine said it has already left 32 countries and is in the process of leaving another 24 countries.

Sandvine did not name the 56 countries, apart from Egypt, where Sandvine promised to leave by the end of March 2025. For the remaining countries -- including non-government customers in Egypt -- the "end-of-service" date will be the end of 2025. This change in the company's direction comes after years of investigations by Bloomberg, which reported that Sandvine had sold its internet surveillance products to authoritarian regimes, including Belarus, Egypt, Eritrea, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan.

So hide it behind a proxy seller

[Anonymous Coward]

The headline that will never happen but will undoubtedly be realized is this:

Sandvine, makers of internet censorship and spy software has reached an agreement with Proxy, LLC to sell it's software in foreign countries with governments unfavorable to the US and Canada.

Proceeds will go into an irish company owned by one man with no known connections, and that company will donate it's earnings to a nonprofit entity which purchases the software from Sandvine's irish holding company for educational "research and

Re:

[PPH]

Really, how are you stopping software from crossing the border again?

Like what they do with my BlueTooth remote barbecue thermometer. You have to turn on location services in the app or it will refuse to run.

Why it needs to know where my steak is, I'll never understand.

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

That's so the commies can't use it.

Until a subscription is required, but that will also be region locked so they can charge you more after selling your location movement data.

So they can serve you ads? like niimbot

[Somervillain]

Really, how are you stopping software from crossing the border again?

Like what they do with my BlueTooth remote barbecue thermometer. You have to turn on location services in the app or it will refuse to run.

Why it needs to know where my steak is, I'll never understand.

My first assumption would be to sell you ads. I bought a label maker with good reviews and it works OK...worked as expected for a year...then they added ads to the niimbot software and actually dropped fonts. It was shitty, but a reminder that "smart" products can be changed on whim and require recurring costs to the manufacturer to host the servers...so while I will keep my label maker for 10 years or more...my $40 purchase price PROBABLY isn't going to cover their hosting costs...so I understand it. I

Re:

[techno-vampire]

My first assumption would be to sell you ads.

Not just ads, targeted ads specific to your location. And how do they find your location? From your IP address of course, which is why I never bother to hide it. You see, my IP address doesn't reflect where I am, it reflects where my connection connects to the Internet, and that's about 130 miles from my home. This does have its downside as most fast food and delivery outfits use that to find what they think is their closest location and some of them won't

Re:

[sjames]

I limit my understanding to understanding their foul motives. But that doesn't mean forgiveness or pity. They had the option to design the thing to not need a server at all, so any continuing cost is on them.

Re:

[geoff_smith82]

It needs it because accessing bluetooth allows you to get the bluetooth MAC address. This can then be linked to back to your location through other means. So the app is not necessarily getting your location, it is that it could get your location - by looking up the MAC address.

Re:

[arglebargle_xiv]

This is like letting Bob the Pedophile take care of your children after he changes his name to Bob the Babysitter.

What a relief...

[korgitser]

Ain't it just marmalade that now only democratic countries can censor the internet and spy on their citizens?

So now they will only spy in democratic countries

[rapjr]

What does this say about the world? Everyone from governments to corporations to police to military to presidents and dictators wants to spy on everyone in the world. Why are they so obsessed with this? What are they getting out of it? It does NOT seem to have increased world peace or prosperity or reduced crime and war. Maybe familiarity breeds contempt. Time to just withdraw from the whole stupid evil mess and stop using the internet for anything (except cat pictures, but remember, even looking at those reveal your locations.)

Re:

[Fly Swatter]

I have some life altering news for you: we as a people are not as nice to each other as you think we are.

We're just animals that mostly agreed to get along.

Re:

[markdavis]

>"What are they getting out of it?"

Control.

Re:

[rapjr]

But how specifically? How do our clicks and web transactions translate into control and control of what? Are they rigging stock markets? Are they targetting individuals with propaganda? Are they blackmailing people?

Why of course

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

It's not easy to build a dystopia where there's already one in place.

Great job

[markdavis]

>"Sandvine, the makers of surveillance-ware that allowed authoritarian countries to censor the internet and spy on their citizens, announced that it is leaving dozens of "non-democratic" countries"

'Cause we want to do the moral thing and make sure only democracies have the censorship they so desperately want and need.

When do they leave?

[algaeman]

Hard to imagine they would leave a market as big as the USA. Do they have a criteria for re-joining once we have a revolution?

Re:

[martin-boundary]

USAxit is going very well thank you. You rejoiners are always trying to turn the clock back! Look at the sunlit uplands! We hold all the cards!

Company spin

[Gavino]

It seems as if Sandvine are spinning this as something virtuous, but given the timing of the blocklist (02/27/2024), I'd say this is just a ramification of that Government decision. Company accountants would have done the sums and thought that it's less damaging to the bottom line to cut those rogue countries loose, than risk all that business revenue with the USA and other so-called democratic countries.

It reminds me of that car company that figured it was cheaper to pay out crash victim survivors, than do a mass recall of car braking systems. It's all a calculated balance-sheet decision. No ethics or morality involved whatsoever.

Us?

[Anonymous Coward]

They might have to leave the US in a year or two. We'll find out soon enough.

Translation from Biz-speak

[Miles_O'Toole]

"We've given these fascists everything we have available, and we know damned well they'll track us down and slaughter us if we take any more of their money without delivering even better ways to track down dissidents...so we're leaving. Honestly, it's all about our principles and respect for decency.

Re:

[geoff_smith82]

"We've given these fascists everything we have available, and we know damned well they'll track us down and slaughter us if we take any more of their money without delivering even better ways to track down dissidents...so we're leaving. Honestly, it's all about our principles and respect for decency.

I was more thinking... We can't compete in these other markets - because they have it all worked out, so we will concentrate on the democratic countries so we can turn them into authoritarian hell holes as well!

Russia and the US have a "democracy"

[strUser_Name]

Hell, even China's leader is elected, although unanimously (by the NPC). Even the UK has become scarry authoritarian where people get arrested and convicted for saying naughty words, many times more often than for example Russia. These are not the examples when you think of democracy. So what is the metric by which they measure? Or are they just leaving those countries because they are unfavorable to the company itself?

So theyâ(TM)ll just be focusing on surveillin

[bonedonut]

Helping to fight âmisinformationâ(TM) for those democratic governments?