CyTA insists it protects customer informarion

The Chairman of Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) Stavros Kremmos said the Authority has initiated its own internal inquiry into reports that the contents of private conversations were being by people working for CyTA.

According to Politis, which broke the story, a small group of CyTA employees were selling this information to well-connected police officers and private investigators, and this had been going on for some time.

The information illegally disclosed included the calls made and received by the person “under surveillance”, the time and date of the calls, the person’s location at the time of the calls, the duration of the calls, SMS and, in some cases, a written transcript of the conversation.
Kremmos told reporters that if the allegations were found to be true, this would be in violation of CyTA policy, which is to protect citizens’ personal information.
For his part, Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous said he never gave police an order to secure confidential information from phone conversations.
Article 17 of the Constitution prohibits access to communications, except in the event of bankruptcy or imprisonment. For instance, even if the concerned persons in a murder case were to consent to it, authorities cannot make use of this data.
Under the law, monitoring emails, text messages or phone calls is not allowed, because this is considered correspondence or communication. However, tracking a person’s internet activity – such as in child pornography – is allowed, as this is not interpreted as communication.
Law enforcement authorities have long complained that these strict laws tie their hands. An amendment to the Article was submitted a few years ago, but came to nothing. A two-thirds majority in Parliament is needed to amend the Constitution.
Politis, which printed some of the material – with the names of the persons blotted out – described this as a low-level arrangement, carried out without the consent or the knowledge of CyTA’s top brass or senior police officials.