Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe gives a speech in Harare, March 2007. Mugabe has signed into law a bill allowing the state to eavesdrop on private phone conversations and monitor faxes and emails.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)
Posted on 08/03/2007 1:36:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has signed into law a bill allowing the state to eavesdrop on private phone conversations and monitor faxes and emails.
The Interception of Communication Act, published in the government gazette on Friday, provides for the setting up of an interception centre to listen into telephone conversations, open mail and intercept emails and faxes.
The law also compels internet service providers to install equipment to facilitate interception "at all times or when so required" and ensure that its equipment allows full-time monitoring of communications.
"A service provider who fails to give assistance in terms of this section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine...or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to both," reads part of the new law.
The law came under a barrage of criticism while it was still being debated, with media groups saying it was a major step backwards.
Zimbabwe Internet Service Providers Association said many operators would shut down if they failed to raise foreign currency to import the interception devices.
"We have always been intercepted during communication, be it e-mails, phones or even at post offices, but with the passing of the law they will now do it on a large scale. This is a very sad day for Zimbabwe," said Harare-based media lawyer Wilbert Mandinde.
The government defended the new law saying it was necessary to protect the country from international terrorism and espionage.
Look under Mugabe ..
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe gives a speech in Harare, March 2007. Mugabe has signed into law a bill allowing the state to eavesdrop on private phone conversations and monitor faxes and emails.(AFP/File/Alexander Joe)
They need the ACLU............they can have ours...........
all 14 people who have access to such services should be very careful.
Internet service provider? I thought all the IT people in that country had already been eaten.
They need the ACLU............they can have ours
—
That’s what I and the world like about America.
We are so generous. (Good idea, btw)
Hey, if it helps prevent terrorism...
Looks like a scrappleface quote.
The problems is, the ACLU would probably agree with THEIR government..........
Damn, now I’ll have to reorganize the pool for my Yahoo College Pick ‘Em season.
My view: Zimbabwe will have to choose between revolution and starvation. I'm not betting which way it will go. Probably a lot of both.
I am amazed to find out that they still have phone service.
They didn't mince words with the title did they?
The US Congress would call it something like:
The Privacy Act of 2007: A Bill to Protect Soft Fluffy Puppies.
This has been required in the US for a long time.
Did American and Western European IT corporations sell the technology to the Zimbabwe government like what happened in Iran?
Inquiries should be made.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Hmm, something about this sounds familiar. Oh, yeah - "Bush describes the effort as an anti-terrorist program, but the bill is not limited to terror suspects and could have wider applications, some lawmakers said."
>>”The government defended the new law saying it was necessary to protect the country from international terrorism and espionage.”<<
The problem is this is exactly what you say when its true but also exactly what you say when its an excuse for a power grab. Either way its an invitation to abuse so...
If its for real reasons its key to keep checks and balances in place.
And that is our concern about our government. I have not doubt the threat is real and the solution is sincerely directed at meeting that threat. I’m concerned about the inevitable tendency to mission creep into abuse and the removal of checks and balances.
Not because I think this government is going to come get me in the night - its because this is too much power to give to future Presidents. The unitary executive is too much like a king and not enough like an American President should be.
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