Surveillance and censorship: Inside Syria's Internet
NEW YORK -- Months after the Arab Spring uprisings first rocked the Middle East, a group of Western free speech activists began to map the Syrian Internet.
What they discovered was evidence of government surveillance and censorship.
"We were tipped off that people in Syria were being tracked online, and that information was being used to hunt down protesters," activist Sam Covin told CBS News.
In the spring of 2011, Covin and other members of the loose-knit activist group Telecomix, which provides alternative techniques to bypass statewide blocked Internet or censored websites, began scanning the Syrian Internet to gain a better understanding of the countrys service.
The activist group was able to access Internet-connected video cameras, network switches and appliances, and even home and business routers. It also discovered more than a dozen devices made by networking gear company Blue Coat.
"The devices were not well secured -- they used 'factory settings' -- so we were able to look into what the devices were doing," he said. These appliances, Covin explained, can be used to filter and inspect Internet traffic, including encrypted and secured data, though the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company insists the technology is "not intended" to aid surveillance.
After discovering and reading more than 54 gigabytes of Blue Coat appliance log files, Covin said it "became clear that [the appliances] were being used to track online activities."
A spokesperson for Blue Coat told CBS News the company was aware its technology was being used, but vehemently denied it authorized the sale to the Syrian government. Blue Coat said it has been actively cooperating with the U.S. government since 2011 over what it described as the illegal transfer of its products into the country by third parties.
"As a result of its investigation, the U.S. Department of Commerce has fined or otherwise sanctioned several third parties in connection with the unlawful diversion of our products to Syria that took place without our knowledge," the spokesperson added.
According to the Commerce Department, evidence suggest that "U.S.-origin Internet filtering devices" are being used by the Syrian government "to block pro-democracy websites and identify pro-democracy activists as part of Syria's brutal crackdown against the Syrian people."
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Surveillance and censorship: Inside Syria's Internet