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Sandvine’s technology, which helped Belarus block websites during the protests, is said to have been sold through a Russian subcontractor, but according to Bloomberg, which examined the matter, Sandvine demonstrated the technology at a sales meeting for authorities. Belarusians in early 2019.
This resulted in a settlement worth $ 2.5 million. The technology was installed at two internet facilities in the Minsk area, according to Bloomberg. There, they could be used to censor the network and block websites that the regime did not want residents to reach, something DN had previously reported.
Sandvine has always been silent about the allegations. But in an email to DN, the company now confirms the information, writing that an internal investigation has concluded that its technology has been used to “stop the free flow of information in connection with the elections in Belarus.”
According to the company, this has been done by “developing its own code and adding it to the Sandvine product,” but it still claims that it will not do any more business in the country:
“This is a violation of human rights and has resulted in the automatic termination of our end-user agreement. Sandvine will no longer sell products in Belarus.”
Sandvine is American, but through the previous acquisition of a Swedish company, he has gained a large Swedish presence. Today, Sandvine has two offices in Sweden, located in Varberg and in Malmö. The company had sales of SEK 165 million in Sweden in 2018 and had 95 employees. One of the company’s top managers is also Swedish and works at Varberg, CTO Alexander Haväng.
He is also one of those who has handled the issue internally. In a conference call last week, he is said to have confirmed to employees that his technology may have been used to block websites in Belarus.
– We don’t want to play world police, is said to have said according to Bloomberg, who has been given access to a recording of the conversation.
Alexander Haväng has previously declined to comment with DN.
This is not the first time Sandvine and her Swedish apartment have found themselves in windy weather. In the early 2000s, it was called Netintact AB and was an entirely Swedish company based in Varberg, before it was first bought by the American Procera networks to eventually become part of Sandvine.
Netintact developed a software for network monitoring, with technology that allowed to analyze Internet traffic in detail. These products allow Internet operators to understand what goes through their networks, but also control what is released, what should be slowed down, and what should be stopped altogether.
It can be exploited commercially, but in the hands of a state it can also be used for censorship and online blocking. The Canadian organization Citizen Lab, which examines Internet censorship and digital surveillance, has claimed that the technology originally developed at Varberg has been used, among others, by Turkey for digital surveillance. Sandvine has questioned the information from Citizen Labs.
