Government agencies intercepted data from more than 650,000 phone calls across Australia (and eavesdropped on more 3,000 calls), a new report has revealed
Mobile conversations can be listened to or recorded and user's metadata can be tracked by government agencies
Mobile giant Vodafone released international report to highlight widespread use of phone-tapping
Civil rights groups described revelation as 'unprecedented and terrifying'
By Sally Lee and Emma Glanfield
Published: 15:16 AEST, 7 June 2014 | Updated: 15:26 AEST, 7 June 2014
Mobile conversations can be listened to or recorded and user's metadata can be tracked by government agencies
The world's second-largest mobile phone company has revealed how government agencies around the world use secret wires to listen in to private phone calls across its entire network.
Vodafone's Law Enforcement Disclosure Report, released on Friday, unveiled how direct-access wires or pipes were connected directly to its network. This allowed government authorities in some of the 29 countries it covers to monitor phone conversations and track users.
Although the report didn't release figures on Australia, recently collated data by The Guardian unveiled that Australian government agencies made 685,757 requests to access details about phone calls. This is known as metadata which can track the location of a device, the times and dates of the call and with whom they were made to last year.
They also listened to 3,389 calls from various Australian networks - not just Vodafone.
In the report, the phone company disclosed details on the widespread use of secret surveillance - including phone tapping - by government agencies, according to The Guardian.
While legal notices are required in Australia to access its network, Vodafone revealed that at least six unnamed governments can use its phone system to monitor customers whenever they want.
The company has called this direct access to be disconnected and for agencies to gain warrants if any surveillance is to be undertaken.
Stephen Deadman, Vodafone's group privacy officer, was quoted in the article: 'We are making a call to end direct access as a means of government agencies obtaining people's communication data.
'Without an official warrant, there is no external visibility. If we receive a demand we can push back against the agency. The fact that a government has to issue a piece of paper is an important constraint on how powers are used.'
Vodafone is publishing the report to reveal the extent of phone tapping used by governments to snoop on citizens
Civil rights groups were horrified at the latest revelations, with some describing the practice as 'terrifying'.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of human rights campaign group Liberty, said: 'For governments to access phone calls at the flick of a switch is unprecedented and terrifying.
'(Edward) Snowden revealed the internet was already treated as fair game. Bluster that all is well is wearing pretty thin - our analogue laws need a digital overhaul.'
Gus Hosein, from Privacy International, said Vodafone had taken a 'brave step', calling the covert surveillance wires 'the nightmare scenarios that we were imagining'.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651213/Government-agencies-intercepted-data-650-000-phone-calls-Australia-eavesdropped-3-000-calls-new-report-revealed.html#ixzz33ve9eWn1
Edited by Joffa: 7/6/2014 03:41:38 PMEdited by Joffa: 7/6/2014 03:42:22 PM