Tag: Telcos

On June 18, Telefónica published its 2013 Sustainability Report, to depict the company’s efforts to respect privacy, free expression, and other human rights, as well as social and environmental concerns, but fails to include many details.

On June 25, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution to develop a treaty holding transnational companies legally responsible for human rights abuses.

Amongst the dangers faced by the USA FREEDOM Act—the surveillance reform legislation in the U.S. most likely to pass—as it moves from the House to the Senate, is the introduction of a mandatory data retention requirement.

Dangerously, the bill would allow police to access user data without a court order, even real-time and location information, and to shut down mobile and internet networks all without ever going in front of a judge.

The right to communicate is being curtailed across Central African Republic (CAR), under government mandated service restrictions meant to stop political protests.

Without warning, Kenyans learned last month that Safaricom, Kenya’s largest telecoms operator, had contracted with the government to provide a new communications and street-level surveillance system. The new system integrates 2,000 video surveillance cameras, video conferencing, digital radios, and a mapping system into a central command center. Worryingly, this contract likely entails many forms of street-level surveillance including license plate readers, facial recognition technology, and real-time tracking across major cities like Nairobi and Mombasa.

Vodafone, the largest international mobile provider in the world, released today the most detailed transparency report ever.

Vodafone, the world’s largest international mobile provider, released its “Law Enforcement Disclosure Report” today, which gives statistics on user data requests in 14 countries including Albania, Tanzania, Hungary, and other jurisdictions that have never before released this type of information.

The government of Switzerland has put forward a legislative proposal that would give the government new powers to surveil telecommunications and the internet. These amendments would unnecessarily expand the Swiss surveillance state by beefing up mandatory data retention laws and permitting the government to use spy technology for routine police purposes.

Access and our partners are alarmed by recent political events in Thailand; less than a week after a military coup took control of civilian institutions, the country is now witnessing a crackdown on free expression online and offline.