Google, Mozilla block Kazakh surveillance moves

[August 21, 2019]  (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google and Firefox browser maker Mozilla took action on Wednesday to block the Kazakhstan government from creating an internet surveillance system using their respective browsers.

Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox will block a certain government certificate that allows its authorities to decrypt and read anything a user types or posts using the browsers, including their account information and passwords, the companies said.

Earlier this month, Kazakhstan said it had halted the implementation of the system, the initial roll out of which was described as a test by the government.

State security officials had said its goal was to protect Kazakh users from "hacker attacks, online fraud and other kinds of cyber threats".

(Reporting by Neha Malara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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