Sunday, August 29, 2010
Now illegal tapping on mobile will be fined Rs.1 Crore
Illegal tapping equipment is becoming an easily accessible medium to record mobile phone conversations outside homes, offices or even while someone is driving, without proper authorization. Now, government has acknowledged that this is a huge area of concern as it places national security as well as privacy of regular citizens at major risk. To tackle this technology loophole, the government has decided to put together a task force to control this menace.
The government also admitted that those found guilty of misusing tapping equipment will face strict penalty including a heavy fine and imprisonment. Specific sections of the Indian Telegraph Act, namely 20 and 25, will be amended. A public notice will be placed in the newspapers to inform all citizens that any attempts at unauthorized use of such equipment will attract penalties up to Rs 1 crore and imprisonment.
Normally, official interception and recording of mobile phone conversations require specific warrants to be issued by the home secretary or the home minister of a state or Union territory. It has recently come to light that a parallel system of recording calls through this off-the-air GSM technology exists and has been working as a form of illegal and passive mode of interception. Most of the equipment for such off-the-air passive interception is based on the use of multi-channel GSM/ CDMA receivers, transmitters and trans-receivers capable of receiving or transmitting or both in two or more frequencies simultaneously. This is unlawful and unauthorized activity.
National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) has been entrusted with the task of preparing a detailed list of equipment. The government plans to specifically notify operators, importers and manufacturers of such equipment and obtain data to weed out all such machines that are in use. This equipment will be moved out of the open general licence (OGL) list.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment