Pak government has access to a telephone tapping system: Telecom department tells court
Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority has installed a system for legal phone tapping and the system was at the disposal of the government and its agencies, the chairman of the country’s top telecom body told a court here.
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) chairman Major General Hafeezur Rehman made the statements on Thursday during the hearing of a case at the Islamabad High Court, Dawn newspaper reported.
Responding to a question from Justice Babar Sattar, who headed the IHC bench, on whether there was a mechanism for judicial interception, Rehman said the top telecom body had installed a system but it was at its disposal of the federal government and its agencies.
However, he added that all provisions of the telecom operator license have been retained, except the lawful interception provision.
“Phone hacking has become so easy that if you leave your cell phone somewhere and go to the washroom, I can connect and hack it before you come back,” Rehman told the court.
Rehman said the Pegasus spyware, developed by an Israeli surveillance company, the NSO Group, can hack into a phone in under a minute.
When asked whether audio recordings or phone tapping were done illegally, the telecom authority’s counsel said legal interception does not cover mobile services as it is the domain of the PTA, government and relevant agencies, the report said.
Judge Sattar pointed out that in cases of legal interception, telecom operators share individuals’ locations with law enforcement agencies, while the operators are required under an agreement with consumers to keep their personal information confidential.
The court also asked whether telecom companies could share an individual’s personal data with any agency without government permission. PTA lawyer Irfan Qadir told the court that the regulator could take action against such mobile companies for breach of privacy.
The court asked the PTA about the law under which they shared information about a consumer with the relevant authorities and directed the telecom operators to submit a detailed report before the next hearing.
The court was hearing a case on the petitions of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, son of Mian Najam-us-Saqib, and former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s jailed wife Bushra Bibi over the leaking of their audio conversations, said the report.
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First print: March 16, 2024 | 12:37 pm IST