Phone tapping made tougher

Firms to acknowledge request within 2 hours.

The government today armed itself with "a tough law against phone tapping". The new guidelines, a copy of which is being given to operators, prescribe stringent norms for the service providers as well as the law enforcement agencies.

Under the guidelines, telecom companies will be required to formally acknowledge an interception request from law enforcement agencies within two hours.

This system will also be followed in emergency cases "where relevant competent authority has not been obtained".

In the case of emergency interceptions in remote areas, enforcement agencies must submit reconfirmation within three days, the guidelines put together by the department of telecommunication said.

DoT has also directed that this issue should be handled by "fairly senior officers" "" general manager and deputy general manager in the case of telephone companies and the head or second-in-command in case of a law enforcement agency.

Additionally, in the case of an emergency, an officer of the rank of superintendent of police or equivalent must authenticate the orders issued by the home secretary.

The designated nodal officers of telecom companies must compulsorily seek reconfirmation and cross-check the interception requests with their counterparts at the law enforcement agencies during joint meetings every 15 days.

Both telecom operators and law enforcement agencies have also been asked to exchange complete details "" name, designation, address and phone numbers "" of all the officers who are author-ised to issue tapping orders.

In case of a roaming number, the guidelines stipulate that tapping facilities for the subscriber be given to the state police of the home network.

The state police would, however, have to obtain the approval of the Union home secretary or home secretary of the state concerned to monitor phones of those (non-roamers) who were outside the geographical boundaries of the state, the guidelines add.

Along with the guidelines, the government has also asked service providers to doubly check the personal details of subscribers to prevent any misuse by terrorists and anti-nationals.