Phone tap: DoT gets tough

Talecom firms now have to make 24/7 arrangements to acknowledge requests for phone taps by law enforcement agencies. The Department of Telec...

Talecom firms now have to make 24/7 arrangements to acknowledge requests for phone taps by law enforcement agencies. The Department of Telecom DoT on Wednesday issued fresh instructions to companies on how they should prevent unofficial taps.

Stung by the Amar Singh case, all service providers will now be held responsible for legal or illegal phone taps launched at their premises. When the police does not have prior approval for an interception, its request must go to a designated 8216;8216;nodal officer8217;8217; in the telecom company only.

These designated officials of the telecom firm will forward their list of interception requests to 8216;8216;nodal officials8217;8217; of the security and law enforcement agencies within 15 days of getting them.

Phones can still be intercepted in remote areas without prior approval from the Home Secretary, but only for three days 8212; not 15 as it used to be. Meetings will be held every fortnight to exchange lists of requests sent by security agencies and received by telecom firms.

A quarterly exchange of contact information of designated officials will also take place to ensure continuity in the phone taps.

In these cases, the phone tap also has to be requested by the most senior officer of a security agency, or his second in command. This official cannot be below the rank of Inspector General of Police. Also, if the Home Secretary issues a phone tap order, only the Superintendent of Police or his equivalent can authenticate it, not the DIG or equivalent as before. Roaming subscribers will also be tracked for a State8217;s police, but calls of non-roaming subscribers, when they are outside a State will be intercepted only after approval from the Union Home Secretary or Home Secretary of the concerned state.

The DoT8217;s new phone tap norms are a result of weeks of intense deliberations with Home Ministry officials. They place the chain of tapping command in hands of 8216;8216;fairly senior officials8217;8217; even in the telecom companies.

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Now on, the General Manager or Deputy GM rank officials alone can take on tap requests. Operators are to maintain 8216;8216;extreme secrecy and confidentiality of intimation of interception authorisation.8217;8217; Besides, they must verify their mobile subscribers and SIM card owners to guard against possible misuse for 8216;8216;terrorist and anti-national activities8217;8217;.