Opposition MPs call for greater transparency on phone tapping

Opposition MPs Kristy Debono and Jason Azzopardi today called on government to release the total number of phone taps and email interceptions.

“In 2014, people expect to be living in a free society and not one where the state acts like a big brother and listens in on their private conversation” Debono said.

She added that it was high time to come clean and “put people’s minds at rest on the extent of phone and email interceptions in Malta.”

“We want proper auditing of the entire system of interception and greater transparency in order to safeguard public concerns in this area” Debono added. 

On his part, Azzopardi said that while certain interceptions are justified for reasons of public security, “people need to have the comfort that this justification is not be abused.”

Noting that the law establishes a Monitoring Committee for the scrutiny of the Malta Security Services with the participation of the Prime Minister, the Interior Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, Azzopardi however said, “this committee had not met one single time since June of last year and no annual report was presented on the work of MSS.”

The two PN MPs signed an online petition launched by The Malta Independent, which comes in the wake of revelations that Vodafone has received 3773 requests in Malta for metadata leading to concerns that Malta is the most spied-on nation in the European Union.

Malta is one of just eight Vodafone countries where telephony operators are legally barred from providing information on the extent of wire tapping. This puts Malta in the unlikely company of countries like Egypt, Albania, India, South Africa, Qatar and Turkey.