Italian surveillance company didn't tell HP about the final destination of their products

Nov 28, 2012 14:05 GMT  ·  By

Around one year ago, Bloomberg reported that an Italian company called Area SpA aided the Syrian government in installing a system that would allow the regime to intercept, scan and catalog online communications.

It was later revealed that the Italian surveillance company might have acquired some of its equipment from HP.

According to V3, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has confronted HP regarding the accusations and, last month, the company responded.

In the letter – which has been made public recently – HP representatives state that they haven’t sold any equipment to Syria, but one of their partners might have provided Area SpA with certain products without knowing their ultimate destination.

The company claims that complying with US and international legislation is one of their top priorities and the Italian firm was “specifically prohibited from selling HP’s products into embargoed or sanctioned countries.”

“HP has also determined that Area did not procure the HP products believed to have been sold into Syria from HP but instead procured those products from an HP partner that was not informed of the ultimate destination for those products,” David K. Ritenour, vice president and associate general counsel at HP, explained.

After the news broke out, a number of protests began in Italy and Area SpA claimed it would terminate the project. However, it’s unknown how much of it they’ve already completed before stopping.