Sandvine cancels deal with Belarus over human rights violations
Sandvine says Belarus violated license agreement / pixabay.com
The American company Sandvine has stated that it no longer considers the deal with Belarus ethical and canceled it, bloomberg.com reports.
Before the elections, the company sold the technology to the Belarusian authorities to block websites and instant messengers. This equipment was used in Belarus during and after the elections against sites that the Belarusian authorities do not like.
Sandvine claims that the official Minsk violated the license agreement. It contains a clause that the company's products cannot be used in case of violation of human rights.
According to the company, a code was added to their program in Belarus "to impede the free flow of information during the elections".
However, all this does not mean that the Belarusian authorities will stop restricting access to the Internet and blocking individual websites. The cancellation of the deal most likely means that Belarusian state organizations using Sandvine technologies will no longer be able to receive updates and technical support.
