The Kazakhstan government is taking measures to force citizens to trust its own root, in the name of enabling the widespread persecution of dissidents, journalists, and human rights advocates. Google, Mozilla and Apple are taking action against the government of Kazakhstan’s efforts to launch a surveillance operation against its own citizens by blocking the certificate that allowed it to monitor the encrypted internet activity of any users who installed it.
Commenting on this, Tim Callan, Senior Fellow, Sectigo, says
“This attempted attack by Kazakhstan against its own citizens was the first of its kind, but had it succeeded we could have expected other governments to employ the same tactic against their people as well. This threat could have been addressed only at the browser level, and it forced browsers into new territory when considering how to manage their trusted root stores. By taking this stand, Google, Apple and Mozilla join major internet services in declaring they are not simply neutral technology providers but instead have a social responsibility for how their technology offerings are used.”
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