Government to look into Vodafone's disclosure on interception

The telecom major had said India was one of the 29 countries that sought access to its network to intercept calls, text messages and e-mails during the previous fiscal

Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said the Department of Telecommunications would look into British telecom company Vodafone's disclosure on India as one of 29 countries that had sought access to its network to intercept calls, text messages and e-mails during the previous financial year.

Vodafone had disclosed this earlier this month, in its first law enforcement disclosure report. Vodafone had not given details on how many requests the government had made or whether it had complied with those.

In the report, Vodafone had noted the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, obliged telecom service providers to "maintain extreme secrecy" in matters concerning lawful interception.

The IT Act, 2000, allows the government to prevent publication of aggregate data in relation to lawful interception and other data disclosure demands from the government and law-enforcement agencies.