Government snooping into phone networks is extensive worldwide, one of the world’s largest cellphone companies revealed on Friday, saying that several countries demand direct access to its networks without warrant or prior notice.
The detailed report from Vodafone, which covers the 29 countries in which it operates in Europe, Africa and Asia, provides the most comprehensive look to date at how governments monitor mobile phone communications. It amounts to a call for a debate on the issue as businesses increasingly worry about being seen as worthy of trust.
Wiretapping of telephones and accessing of call records for law-enforcement purposes is a decades-old and accepted practice even in the most open democracies. With backing from courts, police can request cooperation from telephone companies, a valuable tool for the pursuit of criminals.
Yet the most explosive revelation in Vodafone’s report is that in six countries, authorities require direct access to an operator’s network — bypassing legal niceties like warrants and eliminating the need to get case-by-case cooperation from telephone-company employees. It did not name the countries for legal reasons and to safeguard employees working there.
“In those countries, Vodafone will not receive any form of demand for lawful interception access as the relevant agencies and authorities already have permanent access to customer communications via their own direct link,” the firm’s report said.
Vodafone would not say which countries have established these direct links, but in an exhaustively researched appendix to the report, the UK-based company sheds light on the legal frameworks that surround government interception in the 29 countries. The appendix reveals that six countries — Albania, Egypt, Hungary, Ireland, Qatar and Turkey — have provisions that allow authorities to request unfettered access.
In two other countries, India and the UK, legal provisions are unclear as to whether government officials are allowed to have direct access, according to the report.
The revelations have focused particular attention on the role of Western technology and telecommunications firms, which stand accused of facilitating the mass surveillance by giving spies unrestricted access to their networks. Several Silicon Valley companies have since attempted to restore consumers’ trust by publishing data on government surveillance.
Yet telecom companies found themselves in an even more uncomfortable position. Historically closer to governments, since many were once state-owned, telecom companies are much more heavily regulated and have employees on the ground — making them more sensitive to government demands for data.
By making its report public, together with a breakdown on requests for information, Vodafone took the unusual step of entering the international debate about balancing the rights of privacy against security. Rather than being stuck with responsibility and consumer backlash when consumers realize their information has been scooped up without their knowledge, firms like Vodafone have decided it is time to push for a debate.
“Companies are recognizing they have a responsibility to disclose government access,” Information Technology and Innovation Foundation senior analyst Daniel Castro said in Washington. “This is new.”
Vodafone’s report is also seen by some as an effort to turn the page on the company’s embarrassing role in the protests that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. As the protests raged, Vodafone bombarded its Egyptian subscribers with pro-government text messages. At the time, the company said it had no choice but to comply, but was severely criticized for its actions. A change in culture followed.
“They took a hard lesson there,” Human Rights Watch a senior internet researcher Cynthia Wong said. “Even if the government is the ultimate problem, they realized they needed to take steps to mitigate harm to their users.”
Civil liberties advocates applauded Vodafone for releasing the report, and cracking open the debate, even as they expressed alarm at the infringements into civil liberties.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was