Canadian Tech Company Netsweeper Helped Censor The Net In Bahrain

Researchers have identified a Canadian company at the center of a small Arab nation’s online censorship system in Bahrain. In a report published Wednesday, it was revealed that Netsweeper Inc. is helping block news and opposition websites in Bahrain, a Gulf Arab monarchy which has been wracked by unrest since pro-democracy protests were stifled there in 2011.

The report, released early this morning by the internet surveillance research group, says the Waterloo-based company won a tender in January to provide a website filtering system for the Bahraini government.

A filtering system can block any content that its administrators choose. It’s commonly used in schools and libraries to restrict access to a wide range of websites.

Ron Deibert, the director of the Citizen Lab, said his group completed various tests, both remotely and with assistance from individuals inside Bahrain, to check whether Netsweeper’s filtering technology was being utilized there. He said they were able to verify that the company’s technology was present on a few internet service providers in Bahrain in May and July. Yet, Deibert said he’s raising the alarm since they found that the nation is blocking access to a long list of websites that are critical of the government, including several media websites, sites affiliated with opposition groups, human rights and advocacy organizations, atheism websites, as well as pornography and gambling websites.

The United Nations considers the restriction of this kind of information to be a violation of the fundamental right to freedom of expression.

“Bahrain is one of the world’s most autocratic countries,” said Deibert. “There are major human rights violations in the country that will be further aggravated by implementing national-level internet censorship of this sort.”

Canadian government’s Trade Commissioner Service, which falls under Global Affairs Canada, who are promoting an upcoming Dubai trade show called GITEX Technology Week which Netsweeper is supposed to attend, said in a statement that while they could not comment on specific companies, “we expect Canadian businesses to operate lawfully and according to Canadian values.”