INTRODUCTION
Introduction
While attendees of the United Nation’s 2022 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) gathered in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss “Connecting All People and Safeguarding Human Rights,”
seven million Ethiopians in the Tigray region remained cut off from the internet after more
than two years of living through an internet shut-down.1 Despite the ongoing interruption to
telecommunications,
international
delegates
to
the
forum
were
optimistic
about
the
ceasefire deal signed two weeks prior. They were also celebrating the liberalization of the
telecommunications
sector
and
entrance
of
Safaricom
into
the
local
market—the
first
international company ever granted a license to operate in the country.2 During the closing
ceremonies
Mekonnen
at
the
end
Hassen
international
of
the
delivered
dignitaries
from
weeklong
farewell
the
conference,
remarks
United
on
Nations
deputy
behalf
and
prime
of
his
dozens
of
minister
Demeke
government,
thanking
member
states.
As
he
completed his written remarks, a disembodied voice interrupted the live video feed that
was
broadcast
to
remote
conference
participants:
“What
is
the
timeline
to
reconnect
Tigray?,” the voice repeated.3
This moment highlighted the contradictions inherent in Ethiopia’s approach to governing
the
internet
and
the
international
community’s
expectations
that
telecommunications
liberalization and competition would naturally improve internet freedom. In actuality, while
the
IGF
was
company,
taking
Geedge
sophisticated
place,
the
Networks,
package
of
government
to
software
was
supercharge
and
simultaneously
their
hardware
working
control
products
with
apparatus,
to
enable
a
Chinese
installing
a
unprecedented
surveillance and censorship capabilities across the country.
This report, drawing on analysis of a massive data leak of more than 100,000 documents
from Geedge Networks (also referred to in this report as Geedge), provides a unique inside
look into how this company is exporting these technologies for digital repression around
the world — from Ethiopia to Kazakhstan to Pakistan to Myanmar. It also reveals how this
company is participating in the regionalization of the Great Firewall of China, allowing for
more precise control in regions of the country such as Xinjiang, Fujian, and Jiangsu. The
report outlines the comprehensive capabilities of the suite of products and offerings sold
by
Geedge
Networks,
a
snapshot
of
how
Geedge’s
tools
are
deployed
in
countries
identified in the leak, the implications of these technologies for censorship circumvention
and digital security advocates, and reflections for the internet freedom community in light
of these findings.
While
this
findings
report
contains
accessible
to
a
detailed
technical
nontechnical
chapters,
audience,
we
including
have
digital
worked
rights
to
make
the
advocates
and
policymakers. To facilitate easier navigation of the findings, we have organized the report ...