Phone tapping must be properly supervised

THE ATTORNEY-general insisted yesterday that phone and internet taps would not be allowed without the proper authorisation and supervision of the state.

On Thursday, Parliament finally gave the green light for constitutional change that would allow police to monitor telephone and internet traffic on the island.

The amendment to Chapter 17 of the Constitution was first put to the House back in 1999, but has stalled in committee until Thursday, when political parties finally agreed on the change, which will now be submitted for approval by the Plenum.

The conditions under which telephone conversations or internet traffic can be monitored will be determined by law.

“The amendment of this chapter is not just about combating crime but also safeguarding other matters of concern to us such as national security. This law would allow the monitoring of certain things in certain cases. For me, the safety of the state is vital.”

Commenting on people’s concerns that the new bill could pose the risk of private telephone conversations and personal internet data being monitored, Klerides said, “We already agreed during the House meeting that we are open to amendments in the bill itself, which they feel will better protect privacy issues. People have to understand that it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will only be the police doing the monitoring. It could be a committee or another government organisation.”

Klerides said that in matters of criminal investigations, data collected from phone conversations between, for example, a suspect and a victim could have a bearing on the outcome of a case.

This legal loophole was highlighted last October when it emerged that 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.

Earlier this month, police complained their investigations into a woman’s murder were being hampered by their failure to obtain access to the victim’s and the prime suspect’s mobile phone records.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.