Now this is probably not going to sound a lot like a shocker after what we have gone through in the past year with revelations on the NSA from Edward Snowden, but it is still unnerving to say the least. Telecoms operator Vodafone has admitted that government agencies did install wires in the company’s system which allowed them to eavesdrop on customer calls, in addition to keeping track of them.
Vodafone, having operations across 29 countries, did admit that out of the 29, several could have had their mobile and landline system compromised by suits in the higher ups. It remains unlawful in half a dozen of the countries that Vodafone operates to disclose that the government is able to gain access to its internal system for surveillance purposes, so we still have no idea as to which countries will feature wire taps. Vodafone does not seem to be alone in this either, having alleged that other telco companies too, fall under a similar jurisdiction.
In Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Malta, Qatar, Romania, South Africa and Turkey, it is against the law to disclose any kind of information that is connected to wiretapping or interception phone call content. Hopefully existing laws will change to provide a balance between the privacy of a country’s citizens with the security of the nation.
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