U.S. Companies Shouldn't Enable Dictators

PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 15

BY: CAPITOL HILL CUBANS



The following excerpt is from a hearing last week in the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ): I'd like to ask you about a very disturbing report that an American company, Narus, has sold the Egyptian Government what is called Deep Packet Inspection technology, highly advanced technology that allows the purchasers to search the content of emails as they pass through the Internet routers.

The report is from an NGO called Free Press and it is based on information that Narus itself has revealed about its business... I would like to know what we know about this company - and it is part of Boeing, recently bought. What can you tell us about Narus and this invasion of privacy in the Internet?

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg: I'm unfamiliar with the company that you have identified but I'd be happy to see what we know about this.

Rep. Smith: Could you dig into that and get back to the committee? It's very important. It goes to the whole issue of increasingly that U.S. Corporations are enabling dictatorships... It is an awful tool of repression and Narus, according to these reports, is enabling this invasion of privacy.