Big Brother on a Budget: How Internet Surveillance Got So Cheap

Gallagher, Sean. "Big Brother on a Budget: How Internet Surveillance Got So Cheap." ars technica, August 28, 2012.

From the article: "When Libyan rebels finally wrested control of the country last year away from its mercurial dictator, they discovered the Qaddafi regime had received an unusual gift from its allies: foreign firms had supplied technology that allowed security forces to track nearly all of the online activities of the country’s 100,000 Internet users…..The fact that the Qaddafi regime was using deep packet inspection technology wasn’t surprising. Many governments have invested heavily in packet inspection and related technologies, which allow them to build a picture of what passes through their networks and what comes in from beyond their borders. The tools secure networks from attack—and help keep tabs on citizens." Read more