"The UK Granted Spy Tech Export to Turkey Amid Its Massive Crackdown on Dissent"

The UK is a prolific exporter of surveillance technology, ranging from IMSI-catchers that can monitor mobile phones to internet mass surveillance equipment...according to newly published data from the UK's Department for International Trade, the country granted a license to export surveillance technology to Turkey earlier this year. That in itself may not be very surprising—the UK has greenlit surveillance exports to Turkey in the past—but the license comes at a time when Turkey is undergoing a particularly potent wave of crackdowns and oppression against dissent, including the incarceration of journalists and human rights defenders...A Department for International Trade spokesperson told Motherboard in an email, "The UK government takes its defence export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world...We have suspended or revoked licences when the level of risk changes and we constantly review local situations." For Franco from Amnesty, that doesn't fit with the UK granting a recent license to export to Turkey...