Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 17, 2012 Editorial
Privacy is one of the most cherished things in the lives of people. Such is privacy that there are laws to protect it. Anyone invading the privacy of an individual can face serious sanctions. Because of the privacy laws, the home is the most private of places. It is where people indulge in their whims and fancies without fear.
Indeed they cannot be prosecuted for certain acts committed in the home; if however, those acts are in direct contravention of national laws then the privacy laws would not apply. A man, for example, cannot kill his spouse and declare that the act was done in the privacy of his home. Similarly, abuses conducted in a home cannot lead to the perpetrator invoking the privacy laws.
Marijuana possession is illegal but one may argue that smoking it in the home is a private act and indeed, we do not recall anyone being prosecuted for smoking marijuana or any drugs in his or her home. Having quantities for sale is another matter.
And so it is that we should take a look at other issues of privacy. Intruders are deemed unwanted and could face prosecution. People found where they should not be in private property are deemed to be trespassers.
So seriously is privacy taken that people have gone to the courts when there have been breaches. The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company went to great lengths to assure its subscribers and customers that their landline conversations were indeed private. People have breached that security.
There was the case of former Police Commissioner Winston Felix who left his office to go overseas. Someone breached the security of his telephone, recorded conversations and distributed these. Nothing came of that matter except some embarrassment to the Commissioner and to the then head of the Guyana Defence Force.
In more recent times there has been wireless communication by virtue of the introduction of the mobile phones. For years these signals have been intercepted by third parties. It is now history that Shaheed Roger Khan used a piece of equipment to triangulate and to intercept calls. The police did seize the piece of equipment but even people had doubts.
In other countries we know that telephone conversations have been intercepted and the result has not been good for the criminal-minded. Because of the laws, the authorities first had to secure permission to intercept the calls. Having got the permission, the collected information could have been used in court.
Guyana has similar interception laws but the nation was never aware that interceptions had begun. People suspected that they had unwanted people at the end of their telephone line but without proof, many simply felt that they were the victims of rumours.
We were aware that the government, following the passage of the legislation, had leaned on the telephone service providers to acquire equipment that would have allowed them to intercept calls and to record those calls. Since the early queries about the state of the equipment the nation has not been informed that their calls may be intercepted. The service providers are mum and had it not been for a tacit admission by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat one would not have known that there were actually cases of recorded conversations. This being the reality, one must now wonder at the failure of the government to arrest any drug dealer. As was once said, the smallest child knows them. The police would, therefore, not have had difficulty identifying the dealer and monitor his conversations.
Is the focus on the political opposition? We know that attempts were made to record some people accused of treason. Despite the law there was a resort to the use of less than sophisticated recording equipment.
Suffice it to say that Dr. Luncheon has said that the courts have given the state and other laws enforcement personnel the right to intercept calls. We do not know whose calls are being intercepted and we do not know how long this has been going on. We do know, though, that our private moments may not be so private after all. And knowing the quality of the police, what is there to stop anyone from blackmailing anyone?
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