Law enforcement spying on thousands of phones by bypassing Rica
The Right2Know Campaign says at least 70,000 phones a year are being accessed illegally under the Criminal Procedures Act
Thousands of South African cellphones are being spied on each year by law enforcement agencies‚ exploiting a loophole in the country’s surveillance policies.This is according to civil rights organisation Right2Know Campaign (R2K)‚ which has collected statistics from the country’s top four network providers. "These numbers show that‚ at a minimum‚ law enforcement agencies are spying on the communications of at least 70‚000 phone numbers each year‚" R2K said in a statement on Wednesday.Three months ago‚ R2K asked MTN‚ Telkom‚ Vodacom and Cell C how many warrants they had received in terms of Section 205 of the Criminal Procedures Act in 2015‚ 2016 and 2017. The request to the network providers was to understand how a legal loophole has allowed surveillance operations to take place using the Criminal Procedures Act‚ rather than the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (Rica)."Rica is meant to be SA’s primary surveillance la...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.