LONDON – Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, says that governments have been using electronic devices such as smart phones and computers to monitor what they’re saying, where they are going and what they’re writing. He spoke at a panel of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at he City University in London on Monday.

The panel helped to launch the organization’s new project, the Spyfiles. These files provide details on the deals that private surveillance companies have made with governments all over the globe to put monitoring devices into electronics to keep track of whomever governments choose to follow. 

“Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail? Well you are all screwed!” Assange exclaimed. “The reality is intelligence contractors are selling right to countries around the world mass surveillance systems for all of those products.”

The companies, based mostly in “more technologically sophisticated countries,” often sold their technology to less advanced countries that the West has called out for having allegedly authoritarian regimes. Included was the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

“Today we release over 287 files documenting the reality of the international mass surveillance industry – an industry which now sells equipment to dictators and democracies alike in order to intercept entire populations” Assange told reporters.

Westerners are not immune either, Assange said. Voice recognition software has been implanted into British cell phones to find out who is talking to who, and a user’s location can also be tracked even if their mobile phone is on standby.

Wikileaks recently celebrated the first anniversary of the controversial publication of US diplomatic cable leaks – a publication that made Julian Assange a household name.

 Assange is now reportedly under house arrest in London, where he is planning to launch an appeal against the recent ruling of a British court, which decided to extradite the journalist to Sweden, where he is accused of sexually harassing two women. Assange fears that his extradition to Sweden may eventually end up being one to the United States and will be appealing the ruling again next Monday.