Egypt Inks Agreement to Monitor Internet

The Egyptian government is now able to monitor private communications on Facebook, Twitter and Skype thanks to the help of See Egypt, the sister company of the American cyber security firm Blue Coat.

According to BuzzFeed, See Egypt has won a contract to provide the Egyptian interior ministry with monitoring technology whereby it will be able to track online communication deemed threatening to national security or cultural norms.

“See Egypt has already worked with the government and has strong ties to the state security services,” an official told BuzzFeed.

The new technology used by See Egypt, the Deep Packet Inspection, allows extensive monitoring of Internet traffic. According to the CEO of See Egypt, Ali Miniesy, the programme can penetrate WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype, similar to other programmess used in the US and other Western governments.

An interior ministry official told BuzzFeed that the monitoring will target “conversations between Islamists, or those who discuss Islamism,” but also “homosexual acts” and “debauchery” will be watched “for the protection of Egypt”. Source: Middle East Monitor