Mexican authorities for years have been able to wiretap most telephone conversations and tap into e-mail, but the new $3-million Communications Intercept System being installed by Mexico's Federal Investigative Agency will expand their reach.
The system will allow authorities to track cellphone users as they travel, according to contract specifications. It includes extensive storage capacity and will allow authorities to identify callers by voice. The system, scheduled to begin operation this month, was paid for by the US State Department and sold by Verint Systems Inc., a politically well-connected firm based in Melville, NY, that specializes in electronic surveillance.
Verint helps organizations make sense of the vast video, voice, and data they capture.
Witness Systems, a "call center" operator based in Roswell, has been bought by software maker Verint Systems.
"The purpose is to create swift investigative measures against organized crime," Calderon wrote.
"Although the proposal stems from the president's noble intention of efficiently fighting organized crime," said the president of the justice and human rights commission in the lower house of Congress, "the remedy seems worse than the problem."
The scare quotes above are my own, but I believe them.
