The government of Bahrain is said to rely on technology from Nokia Siemens Networks to crack down on dissent. Anchor Marco Werman talks to Robert Faris, Research Director at The Berkman Center for the ethics, about tech companies selling their equipment in countries that have notoriously repressive governments.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. In all the uprisings that make up the Arab Spring technology has played a central role. Protesters from Libya to Syria have used text messages and social media services like Twitter to communicate and organize demonstrations. But there is a dark side too. Technology is also allowing repressive governments to crack down hard on dissent, and much of that technology comes from Western companies, companies like Nokia Siemens Networks or NSN. According to a Blumberg report NSN maintained monitoring technology used by the government in Bahrain during its crackdown earlier this year. Rob Faris is with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Rob, this is an unfortunate side [xx] to the Arab Spring, the fact that technology developed and provided by Western companies is used by a government to essentially to eavesdrop on the communications of its citizens and their pursuit of democracy. Is NSN willfully letting this happen?

ROB FARIS: This is certainly an awkward point for the company and for Western governments that would like to be engaged in the area. To say they were willfully involved it’s kind of in a gray area. This technology is to be used for multi many uses but primarily it’s used to surveil on citizens. In one context, this surveillance would probably be applauded by those in the West if it was used to break up a terrorist cell or if it were used to rescue someone who was kidnapped, we would probably be very happy with it. In this circumstance it seems to have crossed the line to a human rights infringement, and it’s very troubling.

WERMAN: And what could a company like NSN do if they didn’t want repressive governments to use its technology?

FARIS: Well, the simple answer to that is that they would not sell their technology to repressive governments. It’s not necessarily that easy in that how you define a repressive government and how do you foresee what a government is going to do with that technology once it has its hands on it.

WERMAN: Apparently since Blumberg published its article on Monday and NSN issued a response, they first distanced themselves from the company which makes its software in question for their devices, and then, they said, “While Nokia Siemens Networks recognizes the risks of abuse and its responsibility to take steps to reduce the potential for abuse, it strongly believes that, on balance, individuals – including those who live under repressive regimes – are better off for having access to telecommunications.” Rob, that doesn’t sound really the best that they can do.

FARIS: It’s hard to know what’s the best they can do. I think that part of that argument certainly has merit in that expanding telecommunication services around the world… is I think in my estimation has had a positive impact on access to information, human rights, and those sorts of things. There is a darker side to it and we’re seeing it here. And it’s a little bit difficult to understand how companies selling such technologies could ensure that these technologies are only used for good and not for ill.

WERMAN: And where else are these eavesdropping technologies used in the way that Bahraini government is using them? Are there other communications companies with similar issues?

FARIS: These technologies or similar versions of them are used around the world. And NSN is not the only company involved in selling such equipment. CISCO got a lot of publicity, a lot of bad publicity for selling routers in China that were used for filtering. CISCO made a similar argument that Nokia Siemens is making that. These are multi-used tools and how they’re employed is really up to the government that employs them and that the company should not be held responsible for [xx] of use. But we should also point out that ideally these technologies would be used with checks and balances and under the auspices of a strong rule of law, and they aren’t always. And that includes the United States.

WERMAN: Rob Faris, Research Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Thanks so much.

FARIS: My pleasure.

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