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Article

1 Jun 2014

Author:
André Jurgens, Business Day (So. Africa)

Dial 007 for MTN in spy drama [Afghanistan]

...[D]ocuments leaked by CIA whistle-blower Edward Snowden...[have] revealed extraordinary levels of network surveillance in...Afghanistan, where MTN...has 6-million subscribers...Mr Snowden’s documents paint a...picture of how MTN Afghanistan and its rivals were infiltrated by the US National Security Agency, which then intercepted, recorded and stored audio files of every phone call in the...country...by the US in 2001 in its hunt for Osama bin Laden. The documents reveal how a...tool , code named SOMALGET, was used...to spy on calls and...[using] “geolocation” information...pinpoint a person’s whereabouts...MTN corporate affairs chief Paul Norman would not answer questions on whether MTN Afghanistan cooperated with the US agency...[saying] “As is the case with telecoms operators anywhere in the world, MTN acts within the terms of its licence in respect of lawful intercept and access to data in each country where we operate,” he said...