Sep 03, 2019 16:07:00

South African authorities admit that they were collectively monitoring all communications, including submarine optical fiber cables

by

Arno Smit

In order to support communications with countries around the world, fiber optic cables are stretched around the seabed, and as of 2019, the number of cables has increased, including Google installing cables on isolated solitary islands . It has been pointed out that this cable is subject to eavesdropping, but in South Africa, it has been found that the National Security Agency conducted collective monitoring of all communications.

South African authorities admit to mass surveillance
https://www.iafrikan.com/2019/09/02/south-africa-mass-surveillance-spying-undersea-fiber-cables/

The fact of collective oversight was made clear from the affidavit and the documents submitted by former Director-General of the National Security Agency Arthur Fraser in a lawsuit against amaBhungane , a non-profit research journalism organization in South Africa. Further investigation shows that the start of monitoring dates back to 2008.

In the affidavit, the National Security Agency stated that “ Singint (communication interception) is notified by the national information priority, and includes information on organized crime and terrorism related activities. It deals with areas such as security and illegal money flow. '

It is also pointed out that the South African government is eavesdropping on optical fiber cables laid on the seabed and intercepting a large amount of Internet traffic by a privacy protection organization, Privacy International.

The National Security Agency claims the legitimacy of communication interception because it is a threat to South Africa's national security, but humans have to determine where the traffic through fiber optic cables is directed It is necessary to intervene, and it seems to be equivalent to “Unauthorized Interception” that violates the Constitution.

The National Security Agency states that such collective monitoring and data collection are “conventional worldwide”, and in fact it is known that there is an “ eavesdropping war ” over submarine cables. Therefore, it may be common for Internet traffic to go around the world to be eavesdropped by some intelligence agency.