Geedge Surveillance Versus Legal Intercept To be clear, Geedge's suite of products is distinct from surveillance systems used for legal intercept in most countries around the world. The data that ISPs retain to comply with legal intercept requests would involve more limited data points (e.g. connection time stamps, IP addresses used to connect). Legal intercept does not usually involve deep packet inspection. The Geedge system has more advanced surveillance capabilities, with the corresponding increased potential for abuse. Client Snapshots:
 Geedge Operations in Countries Leaked documents provide insights into Geedge Networks’ operations in various countries, including when Geedge began operating in each client country or region as well as revision logs and records that indicate expansion, clues about how governments work with Geedge to prepare for internet shutdowns, and the ongoing relationships between Geedge and client governments. Geedge Networks’ chief scientist, according to a 2024 news release, is Fang Binxing, who is acknowledged to be the father of the Great Firewall of China.20 One might assume that because these technologies, in many ways, descend from and extend the capabilities of China's Great Firewall that they were first deployed in China and then exported to other countries. However, a timeline of the company shows that Geedge actually developed their products for international clients first, then later sold the same tools domestically within China. Geedge Networks was founded in 2018, and their first client government was Kazakhstan in 2019. Our research indicates that Geedge did not deploy its products in China until 2022, when it started to work with regional governments in three Chinese provinces. Identifying Client Governments in the Leaked Documents The documents analyzed revealed that Geedge Networks utilizes code names to designate the regions where the company operates, perhaps creating a need-to-know separation between the academic activities of Mesalab and the commercial operations of Geedge Networks. Identified code names for clients include Kazakhstan (K18 and K24), Pakistan (P19), Ethiopia (E21), Myanmar (M22), and Xinjiang (J24). An unidentified client, referred to by the code name A24 is also mentioned in the data. It is possible that the last two digits of the code names indicate Geedge Network’s start year for projects in the region, though this does not always hold true.