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Bloomberg obtained a recording of a conference held for employees of the American company Sandvine Inc., where the management admitted that their equipment could be used for blocking and censorship, even used by the Belarusian authorities during the mass protests in the country.
The American company Sandvine Inc., which manufactures network equipment. sold to the Belarusian authorities equipment that allows filtering up to 40% of the country’s incoming and outgoing Internet traffic. Bloomberg wrote about this on September 11, referring to a recording of a conversation between company management and employees.
In a conversation, Sandvine technical director Alexander Hawang said that the company had been cooperating with a Belarusian government organization for a year. He admitted that the authorities may have used the company’s equipment to block websites and instant messaging during the protests in Belarus. Hawang expressed the opinion that restricting access to certain materials on Internet sites is not related to human rights violations.
He said the company “does not want to play the world police” and believes that every sovereign state should have the right to decide for itself what is prohibited and what is allowed.
According to Bloomberg, the main contractor through which the Americans supplied their equipment to Belarus was the Russian company Jet Infosystems, which in early 2019 signed an agreement with Belarus for $ 2.5 million.
The agency notes that the US team was installed in Minsk at two sites, from where the Belarusian traffic exchange center could manage Internet activity in the country.
Mass protests have occurred in Belarus since August 9. The protesters believe that the results of the presidential elections, which took place from August 4-9, were falsified. According to official data, the current president of the country, Alexander Lukashenko, won with 80.1% of the voters. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came in second with 10.1% of the vote. At the same time, alternative exit polls showed the opposite picture: Tikhanovskaya’s confident victory.
Immediately after the elections, the Internet was blocked in Belarus.
The Belarusian security forces violently dispersed the demonstrations, in particular with the use of stun grenades, rubber bullets and water cannons. During the protests, about 10,000 protesters were detained and hundreds were injured and wounded. According to official figures, four protesters died.
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