Supreme court Upholds Move By CA To Install Spying Gadgets On Phones.

Supreme court Upholds Move By CA To Install Spying Gadgets On Phones.

Kenyans will have to part with a spying device installed on their mobile phones by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

This is after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition blocking CA from rolling out the Device Management System (DMS).

Telecommunication firms raise concerns DMS would give the regulator leeway to snoop on consumers’ private data.

The petitioners, including Safaricom PLC, the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and Busia Senator Okiya Omutata, prayed to the court to stop the DMS rollout.

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They argued that the Court of Appeal did not address the issue raised about privacy and snooping.

Supreme Court Judges ruled out LSK’s petition saying the partitioner did not litigate the matter in the Court of Appeal.

How CA’s DMS works

CA maintained it had no intentions of spying on users’ data, and the gadget has no capacity to access the phone records, location, and mobile money transaction details.

The regulator said DMS will aid in fighting counterfeits through the creation of an Equipment Identification Register (EIR).

EIR will detect all devices, isolate the illegal ones and deny fake one’s services.

CA sought orders to revive device installation

In October 2022, CA sought to revive the rollout of the device management system to track and combat mobile counterfeits.

The regulator petitioned the court to lift the 2018 orders blocking spyware installation to mobile phones.

It reiterated the device can only detect the unique identification number of mobile phones and customers assigned to it.