GT&T yesterday said it wanted to clear the air on any perception that the company may somehow be involved in the unlawful disclosure of customers’ voice conversations, short messages(SMS) and/or electronic mails to law enforcement authorities or other third parties.
“We can say without fear of contradiction that any such perception would have no basis in fact. Our customers can rest assured that their personally identifiable information and the contents of their communications are treated as strictly confidential, as is required under sections 35 and 53 of the Telecommunications Act, the Interception of Communications Act of 2008, section 5.11 of the ATN/GOG Purchase Agreement and sections 40 and 41 of the GT&T License. The public is also invited to read GT&T’s Privacy Statement which appears on our website”, GT&T said.
However, it noted that it must also be said that while the law forbids the interception of communications in the course of transmission and its disclosure, GT&T has an obligation to assist law enforcement.
“However, the law provides adequate checks-and-balances to guard against abuse. Such lawful interception can only be authorized (under section 4 of the Interception of Communications Act) by a Judge who is satisfied that such action is necessary in the interest of national security or for the prevention or detection of certain categories of offences. An interception warrant must, among other things, specify the persons whose communications is to be intercepted, the identity of the agency authorized to intercept the communications, the persons to whom the intercepted communications may be disclosed, and the arrangements to be made to ensure the confidentiality of the intercepted communications”, GT&T stated.
The phone company encouraged the public to read the Interception of Communications Act of 2008. It said that although the Act was assented to, to date GT&T has not been asked to procure equipment which facilitates the interception of IP traffic including electronic mail.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we say here for the records that GT&T does not have the capability to intercept electronic mails”, the phone company stated.
GT&T said it takes its obligation to treat its customers’ personal information and the content of their communications as confidential seriously. However, it said that its customers too must share responsibility for the security of their information. It added that Governmental Agencies and Private Businesses especially need to recognize that most breaches in the security of their private networks come from within, e.g employee misuse of access privileges, and general lax IT security policies.
It advised that members of the public with an interest in network security and those wishing to understand how easy it can be for their information to become available to unauthorized individuals may wish to follow the two links below.
http://www.kaseya.com/resources/white-papers/the-top-seven-causes-of-major-security-breaches
http://www.net-security.org/article.php?id=959)
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