India tapes Vodafone users’ calls
Vodafone in its report said India intercepts calls, but refused to disclose the numbers
New Delhi: UK based telecom giant Vodafone named India among the countries which makes request for interception of calls and data of its own citizens.
However, the company didn’t give details about the number and type of requests received from Indian enforcement agencies since its illegal according to country’s law to make such an information public.
According to Indian laws “strict confidentiality shall be maintained” in respect of directions for lawful interception, monitoring, decryption or collection of data traffic.
These prohibitions extend to the very existence of such directions, and could therefore authorise the government to prevent the publication of aggregate data relating to the number of directions received by the licensee, said Vodafone.
Vodafone on Friday published its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report in an attempt to be transparent to its customers globally about the surveillance demand it faces from law enforcing agencies in most of the 29 countries in which it operates.
The company has published its global report when there are concerns over privacy of citizens following revelation by the US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
“In every country we operate, we have to abide by the laws of those countries which require us to disclose information about our customers to law enforcement agencies or other government authorities, or to block or restrict access to certain services. Those laws are designed to protect national security and public safety,” said Vodafone.
It said that refusal to comply with a country’s laws is not an option.
“If we do not comply with a lawful demand for assistance, governments can remove our licence to operate, preventing us from providing services to our customers.”
However, the company said that it does refuse to comply with demands that are unlawful.
“The majority of rejections tend to be for defects in the legal process or documentation or in response to demands which appear to be issued under an inappropriate legal power.” Also dem-ands for assistance made by agencies or authorities acting beyond their jurisdiction will always be refused, said Vodafone.