Vodafone wants to be able to publish the number and type of surveillance requests it receives from all governments, similar to how US companies such as AT&T, Verizon and Google are able to do so in their bi-annual transparency reports.
The UK operator has written to home secretary Teresa May and justice secretary Chris Grayling, as well as government ministers in the 24 other countries in which it operates, demanding the right to be more transparent, according to The Guardian.
British law prevents the operator from sharing even general information about wiretapping, and the only statistics on government requests for information are published by the government itself through the Communications Commissioner, who oversees the process and ensures that such warrants are issued lawfully.
Alongside these requests, Vodafone would publish a set of surveillance principles, which highlight its commitment to only provide information that is legally required, its adherence to international human rights standards when these conflict with domestic standards, and its willingness to challenge laws where appropriate.
Late last year, AT&T and Verizon announced plans to publish transparency reports in the wake of revelations regarding US mass surveillance programmes in documents leaked by the whisteblower Edward Snowden.
Alleged mass surveillance of Verizon customers’ telephone communications by the US National Security Agency (NSA) was one of the first revelations to emerge from the exposure of US government snooping, and the operator was keen to ensure it was protecting its customers’ information.
What do you know about Edward Snowden and the NSA? Find out with our quiz!
But will Beijing or ByteDance allow sale? Amazon joins potential bidders for TikTok in US,…
Elon Musk dismisses report that Trump told cabinet that he expects Musk to leave his…
Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly lobbying President Donald Trump for a settlement to avoid antitrust trial…
As global markets reel from Trump's tariffs, the price of Bitcoin slides as investors seek…
Semiconductor imports are free of Trump's tariff war, but concerns remain over imports of smartphones…