Communication authority of Kenya launches mass surveillance program

Despite the mounting protest across Kenya demanding privacy in the communication systems, the communication authority of the country has directed the telecom service providers to install some kind of equipment that can monitor the messages, phone calls and other activities done by the customers using the respective networks. Even though the regulatory authority of the country has asserted that it is not any kind of mass surveillance and through this it is trying to check the unlawful infiltration of the counterfeit mobile phones, which poses a great threat to the country’s internal security as it is mostly untraceable, the common public and telecom service providers has strongly criticised the move.

Some political observers and opposition members unanimously claim that it is a politically motivated policy as the country is going to face the election in the coming year. The government is either planning to hide something from the common public or conspiring to implement a wicked political strategy aiming to grab the victory in the upcoming election, they added. Safaricom, the biggest telecom service provider in the country, opines that the issue should be open to public debate and deliberation. Anyway, a strong campaign has been launched in the social media against the mass surveillance plan under the hashtags: ‘MobilePrivacyIsMyRight’ and ‘MobilePhoneSpying’. It is said that the issue is likely to trigger serious debates across the world regarding the mobile phone privacy and customer rights. Experts say that any attempt to sabotage the privacy rights should not be encouraged or installed by any government. Such an attempt might lead to the dictatorial administrative system, they added. Even though it is necessary to protect the internal security of the country but it is more important to protect the individual privacy than the internal security, they further added.

vignesh

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