| |
Back to Index
This article participates on the following special index pages:
Interception of Communications Bill - Index of articles
Govt
to spy on phones, e-mails
Clemence
Manyukwe, The Zimbabwe Independent
March 17, 2006
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=343&siteID=1
IN yet another serious
assault on civil liberties, government has drafted a Bill to pry into
telephone and e-mail messages and to compel service providers to install
equipment to help the state intercept private communications.
The proposed law, the Interception
of Communications Bill, 2006, should be gazetted today and is set
to be fast-tracked through parliament.
The Bill reverses a Supreme Court ruling in 2004 which declared unconstitutional
Sections 98 and 103 of the Posts and Telecommunications (PTC) Act because
they violated Section 20 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The full bench of the Supreme Court upheld contentions by the Law Society
of Zimbabwe that the presidential powers provided for in the Act to intercept
mail, telephone calls, e-mail and any other form of communication were
unconstitutional.
Section 20 of the constitution provides for freedom of expression, freedom
to receive and impart ideas and freedom from interference with one's correspondence.
However, the Bill restores the provisions that were ruled unconstitutional.
It seeks to empower the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general
of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and
the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept
telephonic messages passed through fixed lines, cellular phones and the
Internet.
The Bill also empowers state agencies to open mail passing through the
post and through licensed courier service providers.
It authorises the Minister of Transport and Communications to issue a
warrant to state functionaries to order the interception of information
if there are "reasonable grounds for the minister to think that an
offence has been committed or that there is a threat to safety or national
security of the country".
If passed into law, government will use it to set up a telecommunications
agency called the Monitoring (and) Interception of Communications Centre
from where spy units will operate facilities to pry into messages from
both fixed and mobile phones. Sources yesterday said government had already
ordered equipment to be installed at monitoring centres in Harare and
Bulawayo.
The Bill says operators of telecommunication services will be compelled
to install software and hardware to enable them to intercept and store
information as directed by the state. The service providers will also
be asked to link their message monitoring equipment to the government
agency. Such equipment should be able to render "real time, full
time monitoring facilities for the interception of communication".
The Bill says the process of interception should be such that "neither
the interception target nor any other unauthorised person is aware of
any changes made to fulfill the interception order".
The Bill says service providers would be compensated for information assistance
rendered to the agency in monitoring information. Over and above this,
the service providers will under the proposed law be compelled to keep
personal information on clients and provide it to the state if asked to
do so.
Failure by service providers to, among other issues, install the requisite
software and hardware to intercept messages and transmit them to the government
agency will attract a fine and/or imprisonment of up to three years.
The law also empowers state security agencies and Zimra to intercept and
open mail which they believe contains information that can be used in
the commission of an offence or which can be used as evidence. The information
intercepted can be used as evidence in a court of law.
The proposed law comes almost two years after President Mugabe during
the official opening of the fifth session of the fifth Parliament of Zimbabwe
on July 20 2004 spoke of a "security of communications Bill meant
to bolster the security of our nation".
The draconian piece of law is part of a raft of repressive legislation
passed by government to curtail freedom of information. Included in this
regime is the Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public
Order and Security Act.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
