There is always a price to pay when we achieve a goal from the evolution of technology. In this case it is true that the price is that modern societies are being held hostage to a significant if not to a maximum extent by these technological developments; In order to answer this question we need to consider whether facilitating our lives through our telephone conversations ensures that communications are privacy.
by T.C.
©The law of intellectual property is prohibited in any way unlawful use/appropriation of this article, with heavy civil and criminal penalties for the infringer.
In all modern societies the privacy of telephone conversations is protected by the respective Constitution of each country but also by the designated Independent Principles of Assurance of the Privacy of Communications set by each state.
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The breach of telephone communications
Currently there is a lot of discussion about the new generation 5G networks and how they can be used for spying and for other reasons. Until a few years ago most countries used and some of them continue to use GSM & 3G, 4G networks to date.
However, specific events in the past show us the real inability of both networks and telecommunications providers to be able to ensure the confidentiality of conversations. More specifically,
- Arrest of a technical mobile operator in Lebanon (2010) for espionage by a third country by embezzlement of telephone calls for fourteen years.
- Heavy charges against Pirelli for industrial espionage (2010) on the international trade of competing companies, using access it had to Telecom Italia.
- Arrest in Mexico (2010) of a certain number of people using a van making phone conversations on behalf of people of the political, business, and journalistic establishment, respectively.
- Arrest in Romania (2010) of many people using off-the-shelf software by monitoring phones on behalf of third parties.
- Publication in Computer Weekly magazine (2010) of a video on YouTube that featured the basic equipment for monitoring on GSM networks that came with the much-needed open source software for use on a PC. This software was sold online for less than $1500.
- In the UK, police (2020) arrested around 740 people, seizing £50m in cash, and completely removing the encrypted EncroChat communication platform. This communication platform offered messaging services for mobile phones, but these services were mainly used by criminal organizations for their illegal activities.
Surely, we can say that all known softwares are used as communication platforms e.g. Signal, Viber, Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp etc. do not provide protection for the security of communications.
This is what makes all law enforcement authorities in all countries of the world try to inform and follow technological developments so that they are one step ahead of criminal organizations using encrypted communication services.
As soon as these encrypted services and corresponding software become the subject of penetration and understanding of the authorities, criminal organizations immediately seek the most innovative system to be ahead in technological developments.
However, since there is no communication security provided, how is now possible to ensure that their conversations are not intercepted? Simply, by choosing to leave our mobile phone at home (as if we never have a mobile phone) and to talk to anyone who wants up close wishing of course that our interlocutor will have left his mobile phone somewhere else.
