News

An executive with the telecom equipment joint venture told an EU
human rights hearing that the company regretted supplying technology
used to suppress dissent

Nokia-Siemens Networks on Wednesday (2 June) admitted its share of the
blame for Iran's brutal crackdown on anti-government demonstrators last
year after selling mobile phone surveillance to the authoritarian
regime.

"We absolutely do find ourselves in a tricky situation and need the
help of people in this room to help us navigate in these challenging
times," Barry French, head of marketing and corporate affairs with
Nokia-Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia (NOK) and Siemens (SI), told MEPs during a hearing on human rights and new information technologies.

The Finnish-German telecoms joint venture was at the centre of an
ethics controversy last year when it emerged that it had supplied
surveillance technology to two Iranian mobile phone operators. The
technology was used to track down dissidents amid the mass protests
following the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in
June 2009.

Apart from the crackdown on demonstrators, which saw 36 confirmed deaths, Ira... >>>