Sandvine recently abandoned its business in Belarus, but its Internet traffic monitoring equipment has been used in other countries to block information from the Internet from many peoples.
According to a report published by the American website "Bloomberg" by writer Ryan Gallagher, Sandvine equipment was used by the Egyptian government to prevent access to independent news sites, and in Azerbaijan, current employees admitted that it was used to block social networking sites.
Recently, the US-based company, Sandvine, stated that it would stop selling its equipment to Belarus after Bloomberg reported that it was used to censor the Internet during a crucial election.
In explaining its decision, the company said it abhors "the use of technology to prevent the free flow of information, which leads to human rights violations."
But this company's equipment has also been used to censor the Internet in more than 14 countries in recent years.
Among these countries are Algeria, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Eritrea, as well as Jordan, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan and Thailand, as well as the UAE and Uzbekistan, according to Sandvine private and government sales records that Bloomberg has seen.
According to Sandvine employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the blocking feature enabled these countries to filter out political news and social media sites.
The company also continued to provide the latest developments and technical expertise to many of these clients, according to the employees and what the documents revealed.
More than 14 countries have used Sandvine technology to censor the Internet (Getty Images)
For its part, "Sandvine" refused to comment on specific deals conducted with countries or network providers, but said - in a written statement - that its technology to monitor Internet traffic, which includes blocking and filtering technology, is used to protect networks and subscribers daily from malicious transactions over the Internet. Associated with illegal and illegal activities such as human trafficking and terrorism.
On the company's website, CEO Lyndon Kantor said, "We are committed to ensuring that the company maintains the highest level of ethics and integrity in our market activities."
In a previous statement explaining its decision to cancel its deal in Belarus, the company said, "This is a violation of human rights and has led to the automatic cancellation of our user license agreement."
Dick Durbin, Democratic Senator from Illinois, called on the company to reassess its deals with countries that could use its equipment to suppress Internet freedom, noting that "the company issued an encouraging statement ending its licensing agreement with Belarus."
"I hope that the company will use this experience to review similar contracts with other countries whose autocratic leaders may try to use this technology inappropriately for political control. Such a step would be another important step in the right direction," he added.
Sandvine manufactures equipment that can be used to manage massive Internet data flows as they pass in and out of countries.
The device known as "deep packet scan" can prevent spam and viruses, but it can also be used to blacklist millions of websites and messaging applications so that they cannot be accessed, according to company documents.
In Thailand, the equipment was used to block websites critical of the country's royal family, while in Egypt and Uzbekistan, people were prevented from reading independent news sites.
According to the documents, "Sandvine" has provided countries such as Egypt, Uzbekistan, Russia and Afghanistan with technology that can be used to find out information about the history of people browsing websites.
It also agreed to a deal to provide the Algerian government with equipment capable of recording data on online activity for up to 10 million Internet users, according to two employees familiar with the matter.