| Wiretapping and its implications By Dale AndrewsWhen President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that Guyana,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, like many other countries, is moving towards introducing legislation to facilitate wiretapping, there was bound to be a feeling of unease among those for whom using the telephone is a daily pastime.Many persons began feeling that their private conversations will be compromised, given the fact that anyone’s phone calls can be monitored.But then again the legislation should safeguard the rights of persons to privacy, something which every human being cherishes.Lawmakers could argue that with crime almost out of control and drug trafficking within this part of the world skyrocketing, wiretapping is one sure way of intercepting conversations with a view to prosecution.In fact, Colombia has been able to reap the benefits of such technology.With technology giving Columbia better eavesdropping intelligence than ever before, the state has been able to pummel the FARC insurgency.So much has been the damage that the insurgency is now facing elimination.For the first time in the 44-year-old war, a member of the FARC’s ruling seven-man secretariat was killed in action.Certainly this type of technology can be useful to Guyana which is currently facing a crime wave that resembles that of an insurgency similar (although not on the scale) to what Columbia is facing.Gunmen using cellular phones could plan attacks and escape with impunity and from all appearances this seems to be the case.Presently, the local security forces have managed to get their hands on a diary purported to be one belonging to notorious wanted man Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, which contains the names and telephone numbers of several contacts.One of the contacts is a close associate of a member of the Guyana Police Force and there is no telling how much of the police’s operations to apprehend the fugitive had been compromised.But Guyana should not be short of the technology.In 2003, the security forces apprehended three men, including Shaheed Roger Khan, with a piece of sophisticated equipment that can trace the location of a cellular phone.Following that seizure, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon had told the media that the equipment was in the possession of the security forces and he had indicated the possibility that it would have been used by them in the fight against criminal activity.In fact, it would have been useful to the fight against crime and maybe some will question if it is in the hands of the security forces why it is not being used.Surely Roger Khan and his phantom squad used it to great effect, so why shouldn’t the security forces capitalize on this ‘gift’?In an age of increasingly sophisticated crime and terrorism,China NFL Jerseys, law enforcement agencies need easy access to channels between known or suspected felons.Controversy now surrounds the whereabouts of the equipment and the process through which it was acquired.But implementing any legislation that could impinge on a person’s privacy would be met with stiff opposition.A recent editorial in the Barbados Advocate pointed to the position of that country’s Attorney General Freundel Stuart,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, who is clear that pressure from developed countries will not make telephone tapping normal practice.Of course his position eases concerns among the public that there is illegal snooping on private phone conversations.According to the editorial, the innocent are at risk.“It is not only the money launderer,Cheap Jerseys From China, drug dealer, organized criminal or terrorist whose privacy may be invaded by that method of electronic snooping,” the editorial said.It went on to state that to minimize inadvertent, unauthorized exposure, ordinary telephone users may resort to coded speech,Wholesale Jerseys China, but this awkward band may be misunderstood even by persons to whom it is addressed.“Subscribers do not enter into service contracts expecting they have to go through such contortions to communicate with relatives, friends and legitimate businesses. They should be able to converse without fear or suspicion that a third party is listening.”The editorial stated that various systems have thus come into vogue as surreptitious eavesdropping and surveillance seem to be escalating in developed as well as less advanced countries.For fear that some person or agency may be listening or recording their dialogue, sensitive business places and private homes are adopting protective measures although none can guarantee complete protection from illegal snooping.While the Barbados administration has assured their population that they will not be pressured into introducing wiretapping, Guyana’s authorities would be well served to explain to the nation how they plan to implement the system here.Remember the case of the wiretapping of a former police commissioner?While many were inclined to focus on the content of the resulting tapes, not many paid attention to the illegality of the act. If this situation was left untouched,Wholesale Cheap Jerseys China, it does not augur well for the implementation of wiretapping legislation here. |
