In Case You Missed It: "AdaptiveMobile Drops Iran Contracts on Gear for Text Monitoring"

In Case You Missed It: "AdaptiveMobile Drops Iran Contracts on Gear for Text Monitoring"
Latest UANI Success Covered by Bloomberg News

AdaptiveMobile Drops Iran Contracts on Gear for Text Monitoring

By Ben Elgin and Vernon Silver
Bloomberg News
June 7, 2012

AdaptiveMobile Security Ltd. ended its contracts with an Iranian phone company following the disclosure that the closely held firm supplied and serviced technology for monitoring and storing text messages.

AdaptiveMobile, based in Dublin, stopped doing business with MTN Irancell, Iran's second-largest mobile provider, as of May 24, according to United Against Nuclear Iran, a New York- based advocacy organization that pressures companies to cut business ties to Iran. The group cited an e-mail from AdaptiveMobile.

Iranian authorities use surveillance technologies to round up and interrogate political activists, according to accounts provided by victims and human rights groups. AdaptiveMobile sold technology for monitoring and storing text messages to Irancell in 2008, Bloomberg News reported last October. The company was still servicing the commercial gear. Police have access to the system, two former MTN Irancell managers said.

"We applaud AdaptiveMobile for ending its business in Iran," said Kristen Silverberg, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, in a statement. "AdaptiveMobile has made the responsible decision, and we encourage other telecommunications companies to follow suit."

Three AdaptiveMobile executives didn't immediately respond to e-mailed or telephoned requests for comment. They are Brian Collins, chief executive officer; Gareth Maclachlan, chief operating officer; and Hannah Summers, who sent the e-mail to the advocacy group.

"AdaptiveMobile formally terminated all contracts with MTN Iran, and no longer has any business in the country," Summers said in the e-mail to United Against Nuclear Iran.

2008 Transaction

The company said last year that its technologies were for fighting spam, viruses and "inappropriate content" and weren't designed or sold for law enforcement. The company planned to cease doing business in Iran when the contract was up in late 2012, it said, because continuing the arrangement could damage its reputation.

Johannesburg-based MTN Group owns 49 percent of Irancell and operates the network.

Other authoritarian countries across the Mideast and North Africa also employ Western surveillance tools for political repression, Bloomberg reported last year.

An AdaptiveMobile document detailed the system requirements for the equipment sold in 2008 to Irancell. The technology would be used to analyze all messages in English, Persian or Arabic for keywords or phrases, store them and flag those caught by filters for review. ...

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