WikiLeaks maps intercept money mines

Assange accuses Australia of developing and selling spy systems.

WikiLeaks has released an interactive map and 287 documents detailing allegations of surveillance equipment sold by private companies to governments around the world.

The five broad categories in WikiLeaks' "Spy Files" map detail the use of internet monitoring, phone monitoring, trojans, speech analysis, SMS monitoring and GPS tracking around the world. 

The documents are mostly alleged product brochures from well-known companies, including Siemens, HP, Thales and Nokia Siemens Networks, but also those caught up in recent controversies such as DigiTask, fingered as the maker of Germany's Federal Trojan, and BlueCoat, accused of supplying Syrian authorities web monitoring equipment.   

The "spy files" were meant to shed light not just on Western companies selling surveillance equipment to repressive governments, but also to Western intelligence agencies. 

Assange told a press conference today in London that the US, Britain, Australia, South Africa and Canada were all developing spy systems and selling them to "dictators and democracies alike", the Associated Press reported.      

WikiLeaks' release contains some of the same documents the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published based on 36 companies' marketing documents gathered from the ISS World Americas conference in October. 

The heavily-sponsored Asia Pacific ISS conference is being held in Kuala Lumpur next week, showcasing the latest technologies used in lawful interception and surveillance. 

One of the companies cited by the WSJ and WikiLeaks was French security firm, Vupen, which claims to sell its zero day exploits only to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in ANZUS, NATO and ASEAN conuntries.

Vupen recently raised alarm bells when it refused to share details about a serious vulnerability in Chrome, because it was also selling offensive capabilities. 

Curiously WikiLeaks' map contains nothing on Australia, but alleges several firms in New Zealand are involved.