Deep Packet Inspection in Perspective: Tracing its lineage and surveillance Potentials
By Christopher Parsons, January 2009, The New Transparency Project, Working Paper I, IRSP II.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are responsible for transmitting and delivering their customers’ data requests, ranging from requests for data from websites, to that from file-sharing applications, to that from participants in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) chat sessions. Using contemporary packet inspection and capture technologies, ISPs can investigate and record the content of unencrypted digital communications data packets. This paper explains the structure of these packets, and then proceeds to describe the packet inspection technologies that monitor their movement and extract information from the packets as they flow across ISP networks. After discussing the potency of contemporary deep packet inspection devices, in relation to their earlier packet inspection predecessors, and their potential uses in improving network operators’ network
management systems, I argue that they should be identified as surveillance technologies that can potentially be incredibly invasive. Drawing on Canadian examples, I argue that Canadian ISPs are using DPI technologies to implicitly ‘teach’ their customers norms about what are ‘inappropriate’ data transfer programs, and the appropriate levels of ISP manipulation of customer data traffic.
Canadian and Israeli Defense -- Industrial and Homeland Security Ties: An Analysis
by Kole Kilibarda, November 2008, The New Transparency Project, Working Paper II, IRSP IV.
This report examines specific recent linkages between Canada and Israel in the Homeland Security field. To this end the paper is divided into: (1) a short overview of the general context impelling the growth in Canadian and Israeli commercial relations; (2) a look at some of the institutionalized cooperation frameworks established that regulate the Canada-Israel relationship; and (3) an examination of the private sector benefits of this cooperation in the homeland security and defense industrial realm.
The Political Economy of Israel’s Homeland Security
by Neve Gordon, April 2009, The New Transparency Project, Working Paper III, IRSP IV.
In this report, Gordon argues that the “Israeli experience”, in its various manifestations, has played a pivotal role in the formation of Israel’s homeland security industry and helps explain the industry’s subsequent transformation into a global success story. But before examining how the Israeli experience has operated, he begins with a historical overview. Chapter One describes the Israeli homeland security and surveillance industry, and situates it within the Israeli economy. This is also briefly contextualized within the global security industry. Chapter Two covers the historical processes leading to the emergence of the homeland security sector in Israel, focusing on the Israeli military, the military industry and the high-tech industry. Finally, the Third Chapter explains Israel’s comparative advantage, showing how the success of this industry is intimately tied to different kinds of Israeli experiences that have been created by the security forces and military industry. An analysis of the political economy of Israel’s homeland security industry accordingly reveals that there is an economic motivation to produce and reproduce the so-called security related experiences and to diversify them. By way of conclusion, Gordon claims that the Israeli experience is perceived as extremely valuable and attractive because it manages to connect between a hyper-militaristic existence, a neoliberal economic agenda, and democracy.
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