Nokia Siemens Sold Iran Telecom Monitoring Technology
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens, the joint venture between German electronics giant Siemens, and Finnish handset maker Nokia, has sold technology to Iran Telecom that allows the monitoring of fixed line and mobile phone calls. The story was first reported in the WSJ and subsequently picked up by a number of other outlets. It’s a confusing one, though, as no one is actually certain how the Iranian government is using the technology that has the ability to monitor network communications including voice calls, text messaging, instant messages, and web traffic.
Nokia Siemens told the BBC that they believe the product is being used specifically to monitor local telephone calls on fixed and mobile lines, while the WSJ raises the possibility but could not confirm that Nokia Siemens’ Monitoring Center product was being used for deep packet inspection, a practice in which according to the “computer experts” the paper spoke to “enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes.”
However the Iranian government is using it, Nokia Siemens is having a PR nightmare over the story. Company spokesperson Ben Roome pointed out in a statement that the equipment is sold throughout the world and used by Western governments, including the American and British ones for “lawful intercept”—that is, monitoring networks to thwart criminals or terrorists, for example. He also made the point that in most countries, it’s a legal requirement to have the monitoring technology in place if you want to run a network. Many have argued that Nokia Siemens shouldn’t have sold the technology to Iran Telecom in the first place, based on what they say is the very high possibility of it being misused. But then, that would have also meant no mobile phones at all in Iran. It’s very hard to know which option is the better one here.
At the end of March Nokia Siemens closed its sale of Siemens Networks’ Intelligence Solutions, the unit that sells the monitoring technology, to German private investment fund Perusa Partners, as the business wasn’t considered “core” to the network tech supplier.
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