Regulator lacks motive, tools to tap private calls

Last week’s Standard on Sunday article on the Court of Appeal decision overturning a High Court judgement that had stopped the implementation of a tool for curbing the use of counterfeit devices on mobile networks has sparked public debate and elicited a wide array of interpretations.  

The article, under the banner “State gets greenlight to tap private phone calls”, created the false impression that the court had given the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) the go-ahead to implement a system that would snoop on private conversations of mobile phone subscribers. This is not the case.