----- Original Message ----- 
From: Elum aniap Godfrey Ayoo 
To: [log in to unmask] ; Edward Mulindwa 
Cc: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 10:58 PM
Subject: So, did Museveni listen in to Ogwal's heart-to-heart? 


So, did Museveni listen in to Ogwal's heart-to-heart? 
By Badru D. Mulumba 
oct 1 -6, 2003

      Tapping software costs an estimated $85,000 or Shs 170 million. Each piece of such software taps about 20 cell-phones at a go

      President Yoweri Museveni was apparently in a generous mood recently when he revealed that he is listening in to people's phone conversations. Is he really tapping phones? Or is the president playing mind-games? Badru D. Mulumba writes: -

      That she has seemingly taken it all in her stride is what has puzzled many people.

      Ms Cecilia Ogwal (MP, Lira Municipality) has remained amazingly unfazed in light of a revelation by President Yoweri Museveni that he had listened in on one of her phone conversations.

      The president said this while addressing Parliament on September 8 on the security situation in the country. 

      Museveni was apparently impressed with the way Ogwal had handled a call from a rebel of the Lord's Resistance Army, Mr Vincent Otti.

      Ogwal, Museveni said, told Otti off and prayed for him to stop fighting. Museveni said: "She did not know that we knew about their conversation. You know these days it is simple to know what goes on with modern technologies."
      When The Monitor contacted her last week, Ogwal said she was too busy to comment. 

      She said, "that is a very big issue that needs a lot of time to talk. And it is a very busy time right now."

      Fellow legislators have been hoping that it is not what it appears to be. 
      "We thought that it was a joke," said Harry Kasigwa (Jinja Municipality West). "We possibly perceived that the industry would take it up." 
      They are nevertheless outraged.

      "It infringes on the human rights in the Constitution. I am surprised Mrs Ogwal has taken it low key," Kasigwa added.

      He sits on Parliament's Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs. The committee oversees security organs including the police.

      "That means that any politician's phone is tapped," he said "It is outrageous that our rights are trampled upon. We should take it up with service providers."
      Phone tapping, he said, signals a country sliding into anarchy.

      Mr John Wagonda Muguli (Buikwe North), was also disturbed. He said, "Ideally, the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of association." 
      "It guarantees privacy under ideal conditions," he added. "It protects rights."
      In South Africa telephone tapping was fully debated and a special law passed.
      Uganda Communications Commission, the telephone industry regulator, has remained curiously quiet in light of the president's remarks.

      As did the telephone service providers themselves. In the past, Col. Kizza Besigye accused the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence of tapping MTN telephone lines. 

      Incidentally, Ogwal subscribes to MTN. Besigye, an exiled former presidential candidate, speaking on 93.3 Monitor FM on June 19, 2002 also accused the telephone company of providing CMI with printouts of calls made by clients.
      At the time Besigye said: "Unfortunately, MTN is acting in a very dishonourable way, giving its customers' information to whoever comes asking for it."

      At the time, MTN promptly denied the accusations. Chief Executive Officer, Mr Thomas Bragaw said in June 2002: "I would like to categorically state that MTN does not pass out phone records with the exception of court orders."

      Bragaw also denied any collusion in tapping of phones. He said, "MTN has never been asked to tap phones in the three and a half years we have been here. We even don't have the technology."

      This time round, this reporter called MTN's Chief Marketing Officer, Erik van Veen who insisted on their previous position.

      "It is impossible to tap an MTN to MTN conversation," van Veen said. "Our position is exactly the same as last year. There is currently no technological means in Uganda to tap MTN to MTN conversations."

      Van Veen added that by its licence, MTN does not allow anybody to tap its phone-calls.

      "If someone has such evidence, we challenge him to bring it forward."
      And as State House claims it taps phone calls, experts are scratching their heads for the law under which it presumes such liberties.

      Fred Ottunu Okot, public relations officer, UCC said, "I am not aware if the Communications Act allows it to do so."

      "I don't think the Communications Act would cover that," Dr F.F Tusubira, director, Makerere University, Directorate for Information, Communications Technology Support. "It will possibly be under another law."


      An official of another phone company also said he was not aware of any law that allows government to tap calls.

      "That law, I have not heard about it," said the official speaking on condition of anonymity. "I am not aware if it exists, I have never heard about it."
      Even if there was such a law, there is apparently nothing to stop government doing it.

      "How do you get the details to take to court?" Kasigwa wondered. Besides, adds Wagonda Muguli: "But government can get away with anything under the cover of national security."

      Kasigwa said the issue was discussed during the debate on the 2001 Anti-terrorism bill, now law. 

      "When we discussed the anti terrorism bill, we looked at that issue. We considered intercepting communications for what we call serious matters," he said. 

      Yet, even if government was tapping telephone calls, why announce it to the public?

      One network provider said that if government is indeed tapping phone calls, it would have to be in collusion with service providers.

      Said the official: "No, they can not do so without collusion. Network suppliers have authority over the entire network. Nobody can intercept your calls unless they are working together with the suppliers."

      In such a case, State House for instance, would need to work with network providers and buy gadgets that tap telephone conversations.
      This, State House can do.

      The software, the official said, costs an estimated $85,000 or Shs 170 million. 
      Each piece of such software taps about 20 mobile phones at a go. But, experts say, it merely indicates calls made, not conversations.

      The telecommunications expert said that it does not make sense to make such an investment unless you are a security company, not a profit-making company.
      Short of collusion with service providers, the expert said, State House would have to invest in satellite software to tap phone conversations.

      "Even if you set it up at State House, you can probably get only numbers dialled from a specific telephone number," the official said. In other words, you might not hear the actual conversations.

      "It is possible definitely. But satellite equipment costs millions of dollars."
      A satellite would then intercept the mobile phone conversations. Tusubira agrees that tapping can be done using satellites.

      "Yes. If you have got the money," Tusubira said. "You know it is very expensive. Big countries usually lift technology to the satellites, but it is very expensive."

      More sophisticated software used in developed countries can however intercept and decipher the telephone conversations. It is widely used in the US, Russia, Israel, and China, the official said.

      It however, remains unpopular in the United Kingdom and Germany. According to the source, even after the gadget has been received, collaboration with network engineers and suppliers would be necessary. For instance, the gadgets that work for MTN may not work on Uganda Telecom network. 

      MTN uses Ericsson software. Uganda telecom uses Alcatel software. Celtel Uganda has been linked to Swedish software.

      If mobile phone tapping software is as pricey as it is made out to be, is the president saying the whole truth about tapping phones? 

      Or, is he simply playing mind games? A communications expert thinks this could be the case. "I think it is a deliberate word put out to make you conscious that they are tracking you," the official said. "If you look at the amounts involved they are mind boggling."

      In fact, the president is not the first high profile government official to say that government tapped phone calls.

      The Chief of Military Intelligence, Colonel Mayombo indicated as much in a debate with Besigye on radio last year.

      In a move seen as intended to show Besigye that his movements are carefully monitored, Mayombo read out a long list of names of phone numbers the colonel had called.

      Nobody is sure where the fact ends and fiction begins. For now, suffice to say that after much insistence by The Monitor, Ms Ogwal came out to say that she is going to sue the president - and MTN. 

     


© 2003 The Monitor Publications


 
"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~