Vodafone wants to follow the footsteps of its US counterparts by disclosing data on government requests in all the 25 countries it operates including the UK.
Vodafone wants to disclose government requests to nurture greater transparency following the increasing distrust on internet service providers and telecommunications companies of the world after mass surveillance reports by NSA were leaked by Edward Snowden.
The mobile operator wants its customers, globally, to feel comfortable while communicating with each other. “We want our networks to be big and busy with people who are confident they can communicate with each other freely; anything that inhibits that is very bad for any commercial operator,” said Vodafone’s Privacy Head, Stephen Deadman, in a statement to The Guardian.
Vodafone wants to follow a trend that American companies have set by publishing ‘transparency reports’ at regular intervals – mostly twice a year. Companies including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn among others detail the number of requests received from law enforcement agencies demanding user data.
World’s third largest mobile operator will not be limiting its call for greater transparency in the UK alone as it will be petitioning governments of other 24 countries as well with similar calls.
Current law in the UK prevents companies from revealing even general information about wiretapping said Vodafone. So much so, discussing existence of a warrant is punishable act and may lead to five years in prison under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) added Vodafone.
Vodafone revealed that it wants to disclose government request data in its annual sustainability report that is due in June. Deadman added that it will disclose aggregate number of requests in countries where it is lawful to do so; however, where it is not lawful to disclose such data, it will say so and mention the appropriate provisions that restrict it from doing so.
