‘Tapping’ system under scrutiny

Date: 27/02/1997

By Mark Turner

CIVIL liberties groups claim Europe's justice ministries are attempting to create mechanisms for a global telephone-tapping system without adequate public consultation.

They also maintain that the move could cost EU telecoms companies billions of ecu.

Statewatch claims that the Union has been discussing how to monitor new satellite-based telecommunication systems since 1991 without setting up parallel data protection measures.

Spokesman Tony Bunyan says a recently published resolution dating back to 1995 states that “network and service providers in the EU will be obliged to install 'tappable' systems, and to place under surveillance any person or group when served with an interception order”.

In the same year, justice ministries also invited non-EU countries such as the US, Australia and Hong Kong to adopt similar provisions without any public announcement.

“The strategy appears to be first to get the western world to agree norms and procedures, and then to sell these products to third world countries,” says a Statewatch report.

But EU diplomats maintain that the group's claims are misleading. “We have not set up a Europe or global surveillance system,” said one. “The resolution only sets down recommendations for the development of telecoms industries. It is then up to each member state to talk with industry and establish what requirements it is going to lay down.”

Experts also claim that the arguments are being presented entirely the wrong way round.

As technology far outpaces international law enforcement, criminals and terrorists are finding it increasingly easy to operate outside the reach of governments.

“The danger is not that governments are about to intercept all telecoms communications tomorrow,” said one diplomat. “The danger is that they have lost their existing powers to intercept messages. Today's Europe is a paradise for the international criminal.”

He added that as the resolution cited by Statewatch was not legally binding, little was likely to happen in the short term. The instrument recommends that telecoms operators adopt 'international user requirements' giving access to governments.

A convention on mutual assistance on criminal matters is currently being discussed by justice ministries, and will attempt to include user requirements. But they are unlikely to be adopted, say experts.

It remains unclear who would foot the bill for meeting the technical requirements. A report produced by the Bonn government in 1995 suggested that

setting up the surveillance of mobile phones in Germany alone would cost 2 billion ecu.

Neil Gibbs, of the European Public Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO), expressed concern at the findings. “ETNO's members would be very upset if they were expected to shoulder the cost of this,” he said.

Statewatch's greatest concern, however, is that citizens are not being given sufficient legal safeguards. “There is no mention of data protection, public accountability or legal recourses in any of this. There has been no scrutiny by national parliaments and no public debate,” said Bunyan.