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Since last April, the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East have brought down governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Protesters in other countries have either influenced or forced changes in their governments to clamp down on corruption and allow more personal liberties. Violently resisting protesters and political change is the Assad regime in Syria, and it appears it’s getting high-tech help from an Italian solution provider.

According to a Bloomberg BusinessWeek report, the Assad regime has employed an Italian solution provider that’s been funneling workers and equipment to Syria to install a variety of security and storage equipment to spy on protesters.

Area SpA has been shuttling works to install NetApp storage gear, Utimaco security software and Qosmos SA network scanners in facilities owned and operated by Syria state-owned Syrian Telecommunication Establishment. The equipment is being used to spy on and block communications of protesters against the Assad regime.

The Bloomberg BusinessWeek report follows revelations that Blue Coat equipment is also being used to block and impede protester communications and Internet access in the Arab country.

Since the protests began in January, Assad government police and military reaction has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people and scores more injured.

“Every single company who is selling monitoring technology to the Syrian government is a partner to stopping democracy in Syria,” said Osama Edward Mousa, a Syrian blogger living in exile in Sweden. “They are a partner to the killing of people in Syria. They are helping the Syrian government stay in control.”

Qosmos, a France-based company, is working to untangle itself from Syrian involvement through its partner. Germany-based Utimaco, a subsidiary security software vendor Sophos, also said it’s unaware of any redistribution of software to Syria, saying Area SpA was a trusted partner. The European Union imposed sanctioned and export restrictions as a result of the crackdown. Security software and equipment are not on the prohibited list.

The United States has prohibited all but humanitarian supplies to Syria by U.S. companies. A NetApp spokesperson tells Bloomberg BusinessWeek that the company takes export restrictions and compliance seriously and is investigating the allegations.

Vendors – particularly large and publicly traded companies – are careful to avoid running afoul of export restrictions to countries under sanctions. However, their partners – especially those in remote parts of the world – are often free to act independently of their suppliers and sell into banned countries. In many cases, vendors are unaware of the redistribution because equipment is acquired by partners under false pretenses.

In some cases, though, vendors are fully aware and complicit. This was the case in 2009 when Hewlett-Packard admitted it was selling printers to Iran through Middle East distributors. HP halted the practice while denying any wrongdoing.

The revelations of Area SpA’s selling products and supporting the Syrian government does raise some interesting questions about the channel in the modern, multinational era.

• Do vendors have a responsibility to police partners’ international sales?
• Should solution providers put politics and social responsibility above sales and profits?
• Who is ultimately responsible when prohibited products are sold to restricted countries?
• Does it make a difference what one or a handful of solution providers do on the other side of the world?
• Should solution providers and vendors be unilateral in not supporting oppressive regimes, even if sanctions aren’t clear? What does it mean if they don’t?

These are tricky questions. On one hand, solution providers are independent companies from their vendors and should be responsible for their own actions. On the other, vendors bear a certain responsibility for to whom their products are ultimately sold, and therefore must monitor the supply chain.

The Syrian situation isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time the channel is party to circumventing sanctions and export restrictions. But this incident should give pause about corporate responsibility and moral standards in dealings with oppressive governments.

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Lawrence M. Walsh is CEO and president of The 2112 Group, a technology business advisory service that specializes in optimizing indirect channels and partner relationships. He’s also the executive director of the Channel Vanguard Council. He is the former publisher of Channel Insider and editor of VARBusiness Magazine. You can reach him at lmwalsh@the2112group.com.

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Larry Walsh: @lmwalsh2112 | Channelnomics: @channelnomics