{"id":175281,"date":"2020-12-21T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-12-21T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=175281"},"modified":"2020-12-17T05:53:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T05:53:11","slug":"spy-companies-using-channel-islands-to-track-phones-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/12\/spy-companies-using-channel-islands-to-track-phones-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Spy Companies Using Channel Islands to Track Phones around the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A protester using his phone at a rally in Bangkok August 2020.
Credit: Lillian Suwanrumpha\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

16 Dec 2020 –<\/em>Private intelligence companies are using phone networks based in the Channel Islands to enable surveillance operations to be carried out against people around the world, including British and US citizens, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal following a joint reporting project with the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Leaked data, documents and interviews with industry insiders who have access to sensitive information suggest that systemic weaknesses in the global telecoms infrastructure, and a particular vulnerability in Jersey and Guernsey, are being exploited by corporate spy businesses.<\/p>\n

These businesses take advantage of some of the ways mobile phone networks across the world interact in order to access private information on targets, such as location information or, in more sophisticated applications, the content of calls and messages or other highly sensitive data.<\/p>\n

The spy companies see phone operators in the Channel Islands as an especially soft route into the UK, according to industry experts, who say the attacks emanating from the islands appear to be targeted at individuals rather than cases of \u201cmass\u201d surveillance. The Bureau understands that the targets of this surveillance have been spread across the globe, and included US citizens as well as people in Europe and Africa.<\/p>\n

Ron Wyden, the Oregon senator and privacy advocate, described the use of foreign telecom assets to spy on people in the US as a national security threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess into US telephone networks is a privilege,\u201d he said in response to the Bureau\u2019s findings. \u201cForeign telecom regulators need to police their domestic industry \u2013 if they don’t, they risk their country being cut off from US roaming agreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark\u00e9ta Gregorov\u00e1, the European Parliament\u2019s chief negotiator on trade legislation for surveillance technology, called for \u201cimmediate regulatory, financial and diplomatic costs on companies and rogue jurisdictions\u201d that enabled these practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny commercial or governmental entity, foreign or domestic which enables the facilitation of warrantless cyber-attacks on European citizens deserves the full force of our justice system,\u201d she told the Bureau.<\/p>\n

The investigation has found that private intelligence companies are able to rent access from mobile phone operators and this can then be exploited to allow the tracking of the physical location of users across the world. They are also potentially able to intercept calls and other private data, including bank accounts and emails.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n