TELEPHONE conversations are not being tapped in Cyprus, Justice Minister Doros Theodorou said yesterday – at least not by the official authorities of the State.
Opposition DISY is sceptical of the government’s reassurances.
Informing the House Communications Committee at a closed meeting, Theodorou said that if tapping was taking place, it was being done by foreign services or even criminal organisations.
He stressed that technology in such matters was always far ahead of systems ensuring the privacy of communications. However, he added, there was no evidence to indicate Cypriot phones were being tapped.
Referring to the recent Greek phone tap scandal, the Minister said Cypriot officials did not use mobile phones on issues that involved public or national safety. He added that ministers’ landlines were fitted with increased security against tapping,
In Cabinet, ministers don’t take mobile phones that may be vulnerable to monitoring, even when switched off.
Referring to the European Recommendation – that telecommunication data be held and filed for a period of six months – Theodorou said the data did not concern the content of conversations but the time calls were made, the telephone numbers and the place from where the call was made.
Theodorou admitted that the state was in possession of observation equipment, but assured it was not being used.
The Head of the House Legal Affairs Committee, Ionas Nicolaou of DISY, expressed the opinion that phone tapping should be carried out only for reasons of national interest. He then wondered why the equipment had not been destroyed, seeing that the government was insisting that it was not being used.
Responding to Nicolaou’s comments, House President and AKEL Permanent Secretary Demetris Christofias said that the specific equipment had been purchased during the government of Glafcos Clerides and DISY for use in eavesdropping on the opposition’s political moves.
DISY has repeatedly pressed for an amendment in Cypriot Constitution that would allow the monitoring of private telephone and online conversations, provided there are strict conditions.
AKEL opposed to the amendment, claiming it would leave the public’s privacy exposed.
Last December, the European Parliament approved legislation that required telecommunication companies to save personal data and internet loggings for a minimum of six months, in case it was needed in connection with crimes such as terrorism, human and drug trafficking and child pornography.
As legislation currently stands in Cyprus, telephone and on-line conversations and personal data are protected by Chapter 17 of the Constitution. This legal loophole was highlighted last October when it emerged that two Cypriot telephone lines were being used to upload child pornography to the internet. The identity of the offenders was protected, however, by the controversial provision of the law.
The government is currently in talks over whether the Constitution will be altered to meet the European acquis.
