BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun said Tuesday that providing security bodies with all telecoms data across Lebanon amounts to a crime, contending the step violates individual privacy.
“No one has the right to provide all the telecoms data because this contradicts the Constitution, which preserves individual freedoms,” Aoun told reporters after chairing the weekly meeting of his Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc.
Aoun warned that disclosing all telecoms data is dangerous.
They seem to be talking about a lot of data:
Last week, the Telecommunications Ministry began providing security bodies with telecoms data from across the country.
The March 14 coalition argues the move is necessary in order to track those who attempted to assassinate Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in April and Batroun MP Butros Harb last month.
The data provided includes the International Mobile Subscriber Identity, which holds key information about a mobile phone, including its location, the content of a conversation and SMS message details.
Read more on The Daily Star.
So… can a government require all data on every mobile subscriber of every telecom in the country be turned over to investigate assassination attempts? I can understand the opposition to such a sweeping data collection.