| By Gary EleazarIt will cost some US$1M for the nation’s major telephone company the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) to purchase the equipment to realize the interception and storage of communication on mobile phones.This is according to a senior official at GT&T who says that the equipment has still not been purchased.The official added that to date there has been no tangible support from the Government to ensure that it can be purchased and installed but emphasised that there has been a sincere commitment to assist.The fact that the companies (GT&T and Digicel) have to foot the bill to ensure compliance with the Interception of Communication Bill, commonly called the ‘’Wiretapping Bill’ had prompted Opposition Leader Robert Corbin to urge the companies to take legal action against the government. Corbin was at the time responding to statements by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon that the onus is on the telephone companies to foot the bill in order to ensure compliance.As it is, both of the telephone companies operating in this country, namely the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company and Digicel, say that they are not capable at present of complying with the legislation that was recently passed in the National Assembly.According to a GT&T official, the equipment used to intercept mobile calls in Jamaica costs in the vicinity of US$800,000, and for the other requirements, “that is a whole other ball park.”During a recent interview with this newspaper the senior GT&T official had also expressed surprise at the pace at which the legislation was passed through the National Assembly, explaining that were the President to assent to the Bill today and it were to be published in the Gazette the following day (thereby making it law) should a warrant be issued to tap a phone, the company could not adhere to the law.If the company did not promptly adhere to the law, it would be in violation of the Act and be liable to a fine not exceeding $1M and other punitive actions.According to the legislation that was passed: “If a judge issuing a warrant under this Act is satisfied that the operation of a public or private telecommunications system has failed to comply with the warrant for want of any support services for the transmission, switching equipment or any other technical facility or requirement, he may direct that the owner,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, operator or licensee of the telecommunications system shall, at his own cost, forthwith provide the required support service, install necessary switching equipment, or provide the technical facility or requirement, as the case may be, for complying with the warrant to the satisfaction of the court; and the compliance with this subsection shall be deemed to be a condition in the licence granted for the operation of the telecommunication system.”However, the Cabinet Secretary said that Government has given the telephone companies what he calls lead time, which came to an end in early December.He also said that already the telephone companies are performing the basics, such as recording telephone calls made and including these in the billing process.The Cabinet Secretary said that the only difference now is that the telephone companies are being asked to keep the records for up to five years.They are also required to withhold a service to a cellular phone unless all the information about the buyer is in place and recorded.A senior Digicel official who spoke on the basis of anonymity had also said that his company, at present, was also incapable of intercepting mobile calls, or storing and retrieving the audio information at a later date.The official had emphasised however that the company was engaged in negotiations with the Office of the President concerning, inter alia, the financial burden that would be placed on the company to comply with the law, hence would not respond to Dr Luncheon via the media.The controversial Interception of Communication Bill, that seeks to legalize what is commonly referred to as wiretapping, was passed in the National Assembly despite staunch opposition.The legislation, which was debated for hours on end in the House, saw the Bill being condemned as suspicious and unconstitutional.But according to Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, who tabled the Bill, there was no need for paranoid concerns, given that the legislation was laden with safeguard clauses.The legislation, when enacted, will give the power to the Commissioner of Police, the Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, and the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority to apply to a judge to direct the technical officers at the telecommunication companies, namely GT&T and Digicel, to intercept the communication of a person without his/her knowledge.In an emergency, and in instances where deemed a matter of national security, the authorities can move to have a warrant sought for by the Minister of Home Affairs, after which he will have 72 hours to present the application.There is also a clause in the legislation that allows for a designated officer to order a wiretap in instances deemed emergencies, where it is impracticable to reach a judge. |
