Your phone company might be a spy. 📱🕵️‍♂️ We investigate the Damascus Dossier, a leak revealing how the South African telecom giant MTN turned its network into a weapon for the Syrian regime. We break down "Project J," the secret operation to install "Lawful Intercept" technology that allowed intelligence agencies to track and target dissidents.

1. The "Lawful Intercept" Trap: We analyze the tech. Telecoms are required by law to have "backdoors" for police. We explain how MTN allegedly abused this standard feature, giving the Syrian military direct, unchecked access to user location data and call logs, effectively turning every cell phone into a tracking beacon for artillery strikes.

2. The "Shadow" Network: It wasn't just compliance; it was collaboration. We expose the corporate structure. The dossier reveals that MTN didn't just obey orders; they actively maintained the surveillance infrastructure even as the civil war escalated. We discuss the legal theory of "Aiding and Abetting" war crimes when a corporation profits from a regime's atrocities.

3. The Human Cost: Data kills. We explore the consequences. We discuss the cases of activists who were arrested, tortured, or killed based on evidence gathered from their phones. We ask: where is the line between "obeying local laws" and becoming an accomplice to mass murder?.

The full list of sources used to create this episode can be found on our Patreon under https://www.patreon.com/c/Morgrain