Belarus authorities are using phone networks run by some of the world’s biggest telecoms companies to stifle free speech and dissent, said Amnesty International in a report...The report, It’s enough for people to feel it exists: Civil society, secrecy and surveillance in Belarus, documents how potentially limitless, round-the-clock, unchecked surveillance has a debilitating effect on NGO activists, making basic work, like arranging a meeting over the phone, a risk.Telecoms companies, including ones owned by Telekom Austria Group and Turkcell, allow this to happen by granting the government nearly unlimited access to their customers’ communications and data. Operating in Belarus requires giving authorities remote-control access to all their users’ phone and internet communications...Belarusian law obliges companies to make their networks compatible with a technical system, SORM (an acronym that translates to “Hardware System for Search Operations”) that gives authorities access to communications without even asking or telling the operator. [also refers to América Móvil, Life:), Teliasonera, MTS and Beltelecom]