TSN new revelations: Iran’s Surveillance System
Mass surveillance has become one of the most powerful tools governments use to control and monitor their populations. While many countries collect data in the name of security, authoritarian regimes go far beyond, using these systems to track everyday behavior and silence criticism.
The Signals Network is proud to support the investigative project Eyes of Iran which reveals the secret Russian facial-recognition technology Teheran uses to monitor the Iranian people.
Coordinated by Forbidden Stories, our media partners Le Monde, paper trail media, DER SPIEGEL, DER STANDARD, Tamedia and ZDF describe the Iranian regime’s widespread use of the Russian facial recognition software called Findface.
TSN worked closely with Kandoo, a nonprofit organization working on cybersecurity for vulnerable populations and led by Nima Fatemi, on this project.
Leaked documents from Russian and Iranian companies as well as source code reveal how the Iranian regime acquired Findface and how it works.
Video footage shows how the software works in Teheran metro.
“This system not only detects their faces and movements, but also creates a ‘social map’ of their friends and relationships, along with other information such as license plates,” said Nima Fatemi.
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This investigation was published so far by:
- Forbidden Stories (in English)
- DER SPIEGEL (in German)
- Le Monde (in French)
- ZDF (in German)
- DER STANDARD (in German)
