UK firm's surveillance kit 'used to crush Uganda opposition'

It would appear to me that autocratic governments are being given additional tools to retain power and more control over young democracies which have not yet developed the institutions necessary to 'self-correct' or reverse/prevent the abuse of such tools.

In my view, it is those who are most likely to agitate for a more democratic society and create institutions that demand for accountability who will be targeted and silenced.

This will deny those countries of the very people who are needed to create the kind of country that their citizens dream of.

Imagine such tools in the hands of the British during the time of the birth of the United States.

I am left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I am not quick to see a dystopian future, but it will make it harder for needed change to come. I welcome any alternative viewpoints that can shed a kinder light on this situation.

The article states the technology can be used,

"to spy on the enemy, collect data, intrude enemy systems, intercept enemy communication and also manipulate transmissions. "It can covertly be deployed in buildings, vehicles, computers, mobile phones, cameras and any other equipment deemed worthy for information extraction or surveillance."

I mean from the article it could be anything - a software interface on top of standard CCTV cameras, voice activated microphones on government and government sympathizer personal electronic devices or just a piece of analytic software for parsing through data they've already collected.

Doing a bit more digging it appears that Finfisher (the tech sold to Uganda by Gamma Group) is a spyware tool that uses common security exploits including phishing and social engineering to infect target devices and monitor them. It appears to do this in a somewhat automated, click-to-launch, way.

Oh, and David Cameron has already called the Labour party run by Corbyn a danger to national security. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-...

Tweedle-Cameron and Tweedle-May already have announced that - they're paving the way for the possibility that his popularity continues to grow, so they can first off attempt discrediting him (the volume of smear already is incredible), and if that fails, he'll be arrested for a) treason b) sedition c) paedophilia d) a parking offence in 1977 e) none of the above f) all of the above.

I think the particular dystopia we are headed for is most akin to Gilliam's Brazil, in which Kafkaesque bureaucracy, the application of technocratic principles, and a veneer of "reasonability" stifles and neuters all possible opposition.

This is the kind of discourse we hear from our politicians today, and it sends chills down my spine:

    INTERVIEWER
                         Deputy minister, what do you believe 
                         is behind this recent increase in 
                         terrorist bombings?

                                     HELPMANN
                         Bad sportsmanship. A ruthless 
                         minority of people seems to have 
                         forgotten certain good old fashioned 
                         virtues. They just can't stand 
                         seeing the other fellow win. If 
                         these people would just play the 
                         game, instead of standing on the 
                         touch line heckling

                                     INTERVIEWER
                         In fact, killing people

                                     HELPMANN
                         In fact, killing people  they'd 
                         get a lot more out of life.

          INTERVIEWER
                         Mr. Helpmann, what would you say 
                         to those critics who maintain that 
                         the Ministry Of Information has 
                         become too large and unwieldy... ?

                                     HELPMANN
                         David... in a free society 
                         information is the name of the 
                         game. You can't win the game if 
                         you're a man short.

                 INTERVIEWER
                         And the cost of it all, Deputy 
                         Minister? Seven percent of the 
                         gross national produce...

                                     HELPMANN
                         I understand this concern on behalf 
                         of the tax-payers. People want 
                         value for money and a cost-effective 
                         service.

                                     HELPMANN
                         That is why we always insist on 
                         the principle of Information 
                         Retrieval Charges. These terrorists 
                         are not pulling their weight, and 
                         it's absolutely right and fair 
                         that those found guilty should pay 
                         for their periods of detention and 
                         the Information Retrieval Procedures 
                         used in their interrogation.