[BBC] A year-long investigation by BBC Arabic and a Danish newspaper has uncovered evidence that the UK defence giant BAE Systems has made large-scale sales across the Middle East of sophisticated surveillance technology, including to many repressive governments.These sales have also included decryption software which could be used against the UK and its allies.
While the sales are legal, human rights campaigners and cyber-security experts have expressed serious concerns these powerful tools could be used to spy on millions of people and thwart any signs of dissent.
The investigation began in the small Danish town of Norresundby, home to ETI, a company specialising in high-tech surveillance equipment.
ETI developed a system called Evident, which enabled governments to conduct mass surveillance of their citizens' communications.
A former employee, speaking to the BBC anonymously, described how Evident worked.
"You'd be able to intercept any internet traffic," he said. "If you wanted to do a whole country, you could. You could pin-point people's location based on cellular data. You could follow people around. They were quite far ahead with voice recognition. They were capable of decrypting stuff as well."