Bonum Certa Men Certa

Warning: EPO Surveillance May Have Just Gotten Even More Intrusive

Reporters Without Borders on BlueCoat
Source: Reporters Without Borders



Summary: BlueCoat, which the EPO uses to enable oppression inside its European premises, has just gotten even nastier and staff may be at risk

LAST year we wrote about BlueCoat's relationship with the EPO. Some people already know about this, but some do not. BlueCoat is (or at least was) used to spy on EPO staff and censor EPO staff, as we first suspected quite a while back (this was later confirmed to us). We gave some background regarding BlueCoat at the time. It's militarised, just like Control Risks. There are many militaristic elements to the EPO under Battistelli and it's getting worse over time, to the point where one paranoid man in a suit has half a dozen bodyguards, costing a fortune.



"There are many militaristic elements to the EPO under Battistelli and it's getting worse over time, to the point where one paranoid man in a suit has half a dozen bodyguards, costing a fortune.""Please spread this really bad news which I read on Twitter," wrote to us one person earlier today. It's a reliable source.

"BlueCoat," we're told, "the company making TLS MitM equipment allegedly used by govs [AND EPO] to violate human rights, now has a REAL UNRESTRICTED CA."

"Please spread this really bad news."

"BlueCoat is used by the EPO to filter web traffic (at least it was in 2013/2014)," our source told us. This is something that we were able to verify independently. "From now on all these people (bastards) can intercept (as Man-in-the-middle, MitM) and read (possibly) without that you even notice also https:// traffic because your browser will trust them, because they have a real unrestricted certificate -like your bank, and so on.Please spread this really bad news.

"Here are some links."

https://twitter.com/FiloSottile/status/735941957130817536?lang=de

https://twitter.com/FiloSottile/status/735940720931012608

https://twitter.com/kennwhite/status/735956084574326784

This now-deleted tweet said: "network interception device manufacturer granted a Certificate Authority able to MitM HTTPS on any computer."

"Remedy," we're told, "partially, but perhaps not for unlucky sheep in the office," is this. "Here's how to untrust it," apparently believes our source, although that in itself may arouse suspicion from within the Office. This may have gone on for quite some time because, to quote the blog post: "This month an interesting one popped up, generated apparently in September 2015: "Blue Coat Public Services Intermediate CA", signed by Symantec. (No certificates signed by this CA have reached the CT logs or Censys so far.)"

Staff representatives of the EPO, albeit besieged and suppressed, might wish to report to European authorities which kind of parties the EPO is associating itself with. Under Battistelli, in the widely notorious Eponia, human rights are respected no more than in Bahrain.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Silent Layoffs, Cool-down, and Cool-off: How GAFAM and IBM Operate (the Law Doesn't Apply to Them)
Laws? What laws?
 
People Who Enforce the GPL Banned From Linux Foundation Board (After Bribes From Prolific GPL Violators), Now They're Banned From Giving Talks at Events
about the "LF" ('Linux' Foundation)
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: The Slop Plagiarism 'Holy War' (Hype, Scam, Scheme), Burning CD-Rs, and Hardcopy Mono
Links for the day
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part IV - Insufficient Resources in the Face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) by Lawyers
it's about 120KG
OpenStreetMap is the Future, Dictatorship is the Past
OpenStreetMap helped us check maps for transport, various overlays with addresses, and there was 0% reliance on GAFAM or "Google" anything
How Strikes at the European Patent Office Are Seen by Striking Staff in Berlin, Germany
We have some more EPO scandals to cover later this year and next year
Association for Computing Machinery Cites Techrights in Relation to GemText and Gemini Protocol
published yesterday, Open Access
Links 06/09/2026: More XBox Trouble (Microsoft Unrest, Many Silent Layoffs This Month), John Duffy as Next USPTO General Counsel
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Avoiding 'Smart' 'Phones' and Setting up Gemini for the First Time
Links for the day
Links 06/09/2026: Sabotage by Slop and "What Happens If 'Open' 'AI' Dies?"
Links for the day
How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm'
"We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America
We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan
Links 05/09/2026: "Let’s Stop Buying New Phone" and 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Drowning in Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Polarization, Warped Maps, and Emacs rectangle-number-lines
Links for the day
Software Freedom, Even If Difficult to Attain Due to Outside Pressure, Does Make You Happier
Peer pressure and opinionated employers can make friends and staff more miserable if they dictate bad software
You Can Run GNU/Linux on a Desktop/Laptop for 1,000+ Days Nonstop
To me, the long uptime is a way of "marketing" GNU/Linux as robust and stable
Profiting From Global Warming (and Making More Money the More You Cause Warming)
Unregulated bank and pyramid scheme
SLAPP Censorship - Part 172 Out of 200: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Complicit in the SLAPPs by Inaction (Didn't Even Study Any Evidence, Only Wasted Time and Budget)
"SRA placed into special measures due to 'disappointing standard of leadership'"
China Does Not Need American (US) Products Like GAFAM's
China has abundance of technical things it can leverage to preserve its autonomy
RMS Didn't Make Enough Backups
Making backups is important
Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter)
One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Fireflies, Shore Pine, and ASCII Art
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 04, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 04, 2026
The Legal Services Board (LSB) Takes on Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Utter Failures, We'll Resume Our SRA Series to Illuminate How Bad the SRA Really Is
a quick overview of the latest news
Links 04/09/2026: Notorious Patent Trolls' Judge Enters the Private Sector (Corruption, Revolving Doors), Gloria Steinem's Life in Pictures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Worries, Upgrades, and CS Students
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Web Site Back Online, But It Seems Like a 2-Months-Old Snapshot
Latest political notes are dated July 2 (2026)
SPAM Disguised as Benchmark or Comparison: The Register MS "PARTNER CONTENT" is Getting Weirder by the Month
Sites that promote fake 'coins' or pyramid schemes to their audience(s) aren't worth tolerating
PIPs at IBMs are Layoffs Because They're Impossible to Satisfy (or They Terminate Workers Despite Satisfying Them)
What insiders say
In the United Kingdom You Can No Longer Make the Assumption People Use Windows (or 'Smart' 'Phone')
As autumn arrives Microsoft faces a crisis
SLAPP Censorship - Part 171 Out of 200: Talking About Corruption and Violence Against Women
Today the Labour Party (UK) speaks about corruption
Warming Up for Investigative Journalism About the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest and Probably Most Corrupt Institution in Europe
It continues to exploit diplomatic immunity for impunity
Microsoft Handing Out PIPs by the Thousands, Anxiety in GAFAM Building Up
Years ago I heard from people who pretended to be ill to avoid getting fired
BRICS in the Windows: Brazil's GNU/Linux Share (as Measured by CDN) Has Hit Highest Point in a Month
The largest Web CDN, Clownflare, sees GNU/Linux at 8.1% right now in Brazil
Corporate Media Will Always Glorify Its Owners (Corporations That Value Nothing But Capital)
Collecting "money" like it's a form of competition where they track "score"
We'll Never Do Slop!
Being against slop is not being "left behind"
Thieves Complain About the People They Steal From
"When you point the finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back to you"
Links 04/09/2026: "The Rise of the Billionaire Lobby", the "Imperialist Delusions", and Digital Restrictions (DRM) From Nvidia
Links for the day
Buying From China
Nations must begin to speak about their digital sovereignty, which Free software is best equipped to grant and best positioned to assure in the face of outside resistance
GNU/Linux Continues to Grow in China
GNU/Linux reached its highest point in a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 03, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 03, 2026
Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Forgotten Realms Avatar Series and Slop Plagiarism's Footprint in Gopher/Geminispace
Links for the day