Contd. Designed for interoperability with commercial hardware vendors, making targeted sanctions more challenging already be present in a client country’s internet service providers’ networks. Integrations are based on open standards. This also means that when sanctions target a specific company, such as the case of Sandvine in Pakistan, Geedge Networks has been able to work with that company’s client governments to fill the gap and build on existing infrastructure. Internationally-funded ISPs are implicated Geedge Networks works with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) directly to install their products. Data is captured and stored on the premises of ISPs’ data centers. Government workers access the data remotely from a command-and-control center. These ISPs may have no choice about whether to install Geedge Networks equipment in their data centers if they want to continue operating in a given country. However, this implicates specific providers, such as Frontiir in Myanmar, that have publicly denied collaborating with governments to censor and surveil. Additionally, ISPs such as Frontiir and Safaricom that are working with client governments and Geedge Networks receive foreign direct investment from Western countries, companies and financial institutions. How much of their work with Geedge Networks is disclosed to their Western investors and shareholders remains a question. Copying and building on existing commercial products and open source code This research makes clear that Geedge Networks often copies existing products developed by Western companies. Geedge Networks appears to be plagiarizing certain commercial products, such as Greynoise and Fortinet networking appliances. They also incorporate open-source code in ways that may violate licensing terms. Geedge seems to be using these tactics for competitive advantage — to more rapidly offer a set of products that match the capabilities of leading competitors while also building resilience to sanctions.

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