Pakistan's Mass surveillance mechanism fuelled by Chinese, European & North American companies: Amnesty International

Pakistan’s unlawful mass surveillance and censorship expansion is powered by a nexus of companies based in Germany, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Canada, and the United States among others, Amnesty International has alleged in a new report “Shadows of Control”.

The investigation exposes how Pakistani authorities have obtained technology from foreign companies, through a covert global supply chain of sophisticated surveillance and censorship tools, particularly the new firewall (the Web Monitoring System [WMS 2.0]) and a Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS). The report documents how the WMS firewall has evolved over time, initially using technology supplied by Canadian company Sandvine (now AppLogic Networks). Following Sandvine’s divestment in 2023, new technology from China-based Geedge Networks, utilising hardware and software components supplied by Niagara Networks from the U.S. and Thales from France, were used to create a new version of the firewall. The Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS) uses technology from the German company, Utimaco, through an Emirati company called Datafusion.

“Pakistan’s Web Monitoring System and Lawful Intercept Management System operate like watchtowers, constantly snooping on the lives of ordinary citizens. In Pakistan, your texts, emails, calls and internet access are all under scrutiny. But people have no idea of this constant surveillance, and it’s incredible reach. This dystopian reality is extremely dangerous because it operates in the shadow, severely restricting freedom of expression and access to information,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty International.

“Pakistan’s mass surveillance and censorship have been made possible through the collusion of a large number of corporate actors operating in as diverse jurisdictions as France, Germany, Canada, China and the UAE. This is nothing short of a vast and profitable economy of oppression, enabled by companies and States failing to uphold their obligations under international law.

WMS 2.0 can block both internet access and specific content, with virtually no transparency.

LIMS is mandated by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) to be installed across telecommunications networks, by private companies, allowing the Armed Forces and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to tap into and access consumer data, such as phone calls, text messages, and even which websites people visit.

“LIMS and WMS 2.0 are funded by public money, enabled by foreign tech, and used to silence dissent, causing severe human rights harms against the Pakistani people,” said Jurre van Bergen, Technologist at Amnesty International.

Based on existing research and commercial trade databases, Amnesty International found that the first iteration of the WMS was installed in Pakistan in 2018 using technology provided by a Canadian company, Sandvine, now AppLogic Networks. Amnesty International dubs this WMS 1.0.

Amnesty International found Sandvine in trade-data as early as 2017 and as having shipped equipment to at least three Pakistani companies who all have a history of working for the Pakistani government, such as Inbox Technologies.

Two other companies Amnesty International found during the course of the investigation are SN Skies Pvt Ltd and A Hamson Inc.

Through a leak shared with the collaborators, and which is referred to by Amnesty International as the Geedge dataset, it was discovered WMS 1.0 was replaced using advanced technology from China’s Geedge Networks in 2023. This version is WMS 2.0.