Supreme Court okays CA to install mobile phone spying gadget
3 min read
Supreme Court okays CA to install mobile phone spying gadget amid concerns it will give the watchdog access to other customer data
Supreme Court okays CA to install mobile phone spying gadget amid concerns it will give the watchdog access to other customer data.
In spite of worries that installing the device on mobile phone networks would give the watchdog access to other user data, such as calls, texts, and financial transactions, the communications regulator obtained the Supreme Court’s approval.
The Device Management System (DMS), which telecoms believe would provide the State a window to snoop on users, has been rolled out by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), and a second challenge to block it has been dismissed by the top court.
The regulator insists that the technology can only identify and record the unique identification number of mobile phones and assigned subscriber numbers, and denies that the DMS has the ability to access subscriber phone records, location, and mobile money transaction details.
However, Safaricom raised concerns that the monitoring devices will give the regulator access to other customer data held by the telecom operators.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), which filed the second appeal, failed to convince the Supreme Court to suspend the installation of the DMS fearing that it will usher in the era of public control and eavesdropping on peoples’ privacy, by intercepting and recording of communication and mobile data.
“In view of the above, we determine that this court does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine the instant petition of appeal,” a bench of five judges of the Supreme Court said.
The Court of Appeal had allowed the CA to continue developing the DMS in 2020 but said the guidelines or regulations on its installation should be subjected to public participation.
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The LSK, which was not a party in the case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal, sought to overturn the decision and halt the plans until the phone-snooping fears raised in the petition are addressed.
The CA defended the installation of the device arguing it was meant to fight counterfeits through the creation of an Equipment Identification Register (EIR), which will detect all devices, isolate the illegal ones and deny fake ones services.
The agency argued that the purveyors of counterfeit devices had become more high-tech and started cloning genuine International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) numbers to the counterfeit devices, which made detection harder.
In addition to the cloning of genuine IMEIs, the CA said it was faced with the challenge of SIM boxing, which became the next frontier for the war against counterfeit devices.
The CA said it had no intention of snooping on customers’ information and that the monitoring devices would be used to crack down on illegal mobile devices operating in the market without infringing on consumers’ privacy.
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