Who is giving your cellphone information to the NSA?

The Washington Post reported that the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States is collecting billions of records on the location of mobile phones around the world.

AFP reported that this information is added to a gigantic database that shows the locations of “at least hundreds of millions of cell phones” worldwide.

According to the report this is “a stunning revelation that suggests the eavesdropping agency has created a mass surveillance tool”.

This raises the question of whether some of South Africa’s operators are providing information to the NSA to serve its surveillance needs.

MyBroadband asked the mobile operators whether they are providing, or have provided, location information about mobile phones on their network to the NSA or any organisation which may be linked to the NSA.

The responses to the questions from MyBroadband were as follows:

• MTN – No comment
• Cell C – No comment
• Telkom Mobile – No comment

Vodacom plays open cards

Vodacom said that they definitely do not, and have not, provided any information to the NSA about their subscribers.

“We’re strictly bound by various regulations with respect to surveillance orders, like the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act (RICA) and the Criminal Procedure Act, and the monitoring of communications can only take place within the framework provided by these regulations,” said Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman.

“More specifically, the only way that we would provide any information would be to the South African authorities and to do this Vodacom would have to be served with a valid subpoena from a designated judge.”

Boorman added that they would only provide information to South African authorities under strict legislated guidelines.

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