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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Interception of Communications Bill - Index of articles
State
resubmits interception Bill
The
Herald (Zimbabwe)
November 08, 2006
http://www1.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=11128&cat=1&livedate=11/08/2006
GOVERNMENT has
consolidated the Interception
of Communications Bill, which seeks to provide for the interception
and monitoring of certain communications in the course of their
transmission through the telecommunications or postal service, a
Cabinet minister said yesterday.
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa told the House of Assembly
that the current text of the proposed law had been replaced by a
consolidated one.
He said the consolidated
text should be treated as having been presented in the House and
referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for scrutiny on whether
its provisions conform to the Constitution.
The original Bill proposed
the establishment of a monitoring centre or agency, which would
be the sole facility through which authorised interceptions could
be effected.
It was to be controlled
and operated by technical experts designated by the envisaged agency.
Persons authorised to
make applications for interception included the Chief of Defence
Intelligence, the Director-General of the Department of National
Security, the Police Commissioner and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority
Commissioner-General.
The postal and telecommunications
sector had expressed mixed feelings on the proposed law with some
of the stakeholders saying there was need to fine-tune the Bill
to strike a balance between the interests of the State and the need
to protect privacy.
Others were
of the view that the provisions of the proposed statute contravened
freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.
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