[kictanet] "Talk to Safaricom" Responses to Day 1 Questions

Wed Feb 15 22:58:01 EAT 2017

 Edwin Kiama
>
> QUESTION: My question is on privacy. Rumour has it that GoK through NIS
mirrors all
> telecom networks. Are copies of my Smses on the Safaricom Network also
> delivered to the government? Are my calls listened to?
>
>
>
>ANSWER: No. As you correctly pointed out, this is a rumour. We have no
visibility of
> call or SMS content nor do we keep copies of the same. Operators act as a
> conduit for transmission of the communication, therefore we only have a
log
> for purposes of billing for the service.
>
> Such logs will contain information such as the duration of the call, date
> and time stamp of the message, the sender /recipient numbers and amount
> charged. Under the terms of our licence and laws such as KICA, we are
> required to keep customer information confidential. This standard is
raised
> to the higher level by our Constitution, which ensures customers have the
> right to privacy.
>
> We are aware that the Communications Authority has stated that they intend
> to implement a monitoring system whose objectives include getting access
to
> customer information. I wish to point out that this request has only been
> made in recent weeks by the CA to the operators.

So, in simple terms,* "**They know you spoke with an HIV testing service,
then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour. But
they don’t really know what was discussed"* Or better yet "*They know you
rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes. But they
don’t know what you talked about."*

I'm sorry if I come out lewd but I am just trying to make a point here. As
long you know whom I called, when, and for how long then it is not really
privacy, you might as well just listen to that conversation. So what
Safaricom doesn't know is the handset I am using, or do they?

Cheers.

On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 10:23 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> On 14 February 2017 at 20:08, Stephen Chege via kictanet
> <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
> > Edwin Kiama
> >
> > My question is on privacy. Rumour has it that GoK through NIS mirrors all
> > telecom networks. Are copies of my Smses on the Safaricom Network also
> > delivered to the government? Are my calls listened to?
> >
> >
> >
> > No. As you correctly pointed out, this is a rumour. We have no
> visibility of
> > call or SMS content nor do we keep copies of the same. Operators act as a
> > conduit for transmission of the communication, therefore we only have a
> log
> > for purposes of billing for the service.
> >
> > Such logs will contain information such as the duration of the call, date
> > and time stamp of the message, the sender /recipient numbers and amount
> > charged. Under the terms of our licence and laws such as KICA, we are
> > required to keep customer information confidential. This standard is
> raised
> > to the higher level by our Constitution, which ensures customers have the
> > right to privacy.
> >
> > We are aware that the Communications Authority has stated that they
> intend
> > to implement a monitoring system whose objectives include getting access
> to
> > customer information. I wish to point out that this request has only been
> > made in recent weeks by the CA to the operators.
> >
>
> Thanks you Steve for bringing this up. Under which law will CA be
> implementing a monitoring system on Operators' platforms? As far as my
> little legal knowledge stretches, any intent to access citizen's
> private data can only be accompanied by a court order (court of
> competent jurisdiction they say), and the access cannot be in
> perpetuity. It can only be for a specific finite task, mostly
> investigation. I hope CA can also respond to this.
>
> Walu and Grace can follow up with questions that spin out to other actors.
>
> > All operators (and here I believe I speak for the industry, but I stand
> to
> > be corrected) are not in favour of any third-party system that would have
> > access to confidential customer information.  We have registered our
> strong
> > reservations with the CA and discussions on this matter are ongoing.
> >
>
> Pleas keep the community informed on the outcome.
>
> > I think this is a matter that this forum should take a keen interest in
> and
> > one that should be subjected to robust discussion as it touches directly
> on
> > issues of data privacy, confidentiality and access to private information
> > before operators are forced to implement the system.
>
> Thanks for that assurance Steve.This is one of the issues this forum
> feels strongly about. Rest assured any measures outside the law will
> be met with equal and opposite force. I'm glad the courts have been
> very instrumental in clawing back constitutional safeguards the
> executive have tried to deny the people.
>
>
> Regards
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>
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-- 
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UI/UX Designer
Tell: +254716909815
Skype: Sidralak
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