'Cops are spying on 70 000 cellphones a year'

Share this article: Share Tweet Share Share Share Email Share

Cape Town - Statistics from MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom have revealed that the government accesses tens of thousands of people’s sensitive communications information every year using a loophole in South Africa's surveillance policies, according to Right2Know (R2K).

The numbers show that law enforcement agencies are spying on the communications of at least 70,000 phone numbers each year.

In May 2017, R2K asked MTN, Telkom, Vodacom and Cell C how many warrants they received in terms of section 205 of the Criminal Procedures Act from 2015 to 2017, which aimed to understand how a legal loophole has allowed surveillance operations to take place using the Criminal Procedures Act, rather than the RICA law.





RICA is meant to be South Africa's primary surveillance law, which requires law enforcement and intelligence agencies to get the permission of a special judge, appointed by the president, to intercept a person's communications.





In order to apply for this warrant, they need to provide strong reasons because such interceptions threaten peoples' right to privacy so much.





This has led to a 'loophole' in surveillance laws: section 205 of the Criminal Procedures Act allows law enforcement officials to bypass the RICA judge to get access to get your phone records – who you have communicated with, when, and where.





According to this law, any magistrate can issue a warrant that forces telecoms companies to give over a customer’s call records and metadata.





When a person's communications information is handed over using the Criminal Procedures Act, they are never notified, even if the investigation is dropped or if they are found to be innocent.





R2K said that in one recent case, former SAPS Crime Intelligence officer Paul Scheepers faces charges in the Western Cape for allegedly using this legal loophole to spy on the communications of various people who were not under legitimate investigation.





In 2016, MTN received 23,762 warrants for customers' call records, while Vodacom got 18,594 warrants. Cell C got 6455 warrants and Telkom got 1,271.





Statistics from MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom have revealed that the government accesses tens of thousands of people’s sensitive communications information every year. Graphic: Rowan Abrahams.

“Due to the fact that in some cases, the same warrant will be sent to several service providers, it is not possible to add these numbers together to get the total number of warrants issued across all service providers, as this would result in 'double counting' of some warrants,” R2K said.





“The most recent statistics from the RICA judge's office show that in 2014/2015, the RICA judge issued 760 warrants for interception. At a minimum, in the same year magistrates issued 25,808 warrants in terms of s205 of the Criminal Procedures Act.





“These statistics confirm for the first time that the vast majority of 'authorised' surveillance operations are happening outside of the RICA judge's oversight, with no transparency or accountability.”





The organisation is calling for a reform in the surveillance laws, such as better protection for call records. Right2Know are also asking for an end to mass storage of customers' data (a detailed record of all messages and calls sent and received, all internet traffic), an end to SIM card registration and greater transparency.





here Read the full statement



