Supreme Court in Kenya allows regulator to install spyware for mobile phones

Despite worries that it would give the watchdog access to additional user data, including calls, texts, and financial transactions, the Kenyan Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for the communications regulator to install a spyware gadget on mobile phone networks to detect counterfeits.

The Device Management System (DMS), which telcos believe will provide the State with a window to snoop on users, has been rejected by the top court in a second appeal.

The regulator asserts that the technology can only identify and record the unique identification number of mobile phones and assigned subscriber numbers and denies that the DMS can access subscriber phone records, location information, and mobile money transaction details.

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), which filed the second appeal, was unable to persuade the Supreme Court to halt the installation of the DMS because of concerns that it would usher in a time when people’s private communications and mobile data would be recorded and intercepted by the government.