There will be increasing anxieties about eavesdropping now that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has disclosed that it had been listening in on mobile phones, used by almost everyone in the country. Governments have long claimed that the CMDA format Korea uses makes bugging close to impossible, but few actually believed that. Because fear of eavesdropping is growing as a result of revelations about illegal eavesdropping on prominent members of society, the NIS admission that mobile phone conversations were listened to is all the more shocking.
Therefore, stopping and removing the growing fear is of the utmost urgency. There have been repeated allegations that mobile phone conversations were being tapped, but the government has always brushed the suspicions aside. Those suspicions still did not go away, and in some ways they were exaggerated. In that sense it is fortunate that though late in coming, the NIS has admitted that mobile phone conversations were listened in on. It says that eavesdropping was only possible within 200 meters of the relay station transmitting the conversation and within a 120-degree radius of the subject. The intelligence agency says that it has not acquired the equipment needed to listen to conversations on CDMA2000 phones, now widely in use.
That, however, will not be enough to stop the spreading fears of eavesdropping. The NIS has to let it be known what kind of eavesdropping on mobile phone conversations is possible, whether the equipment needed to listen in on CDMA2000, the kind of equipment the NIS says it is does not have, is in common use overseas, and whether or not it has been secretly snuck into the country. Failing to do that kind of explaining and saying only that the country should trust it when it says there has been no illegal eavesdropping will not resolve the problem.
At the same media event at which it apologized for the illegal eavesdropping, the NIS said it would seek to have laws relating to legal eavesdropping on mobile phone conversations amended. That kind of attitude will only lead to further distrust in the organization and bigger fears of eavesdropping. Reflecting on past wrongs is important, but even more important is working to win the country's trust.
The Ministry of Information and Communication also needs some clear self-reflection, since it has long denied that mobile phone conversations can be listened to. It needs to take the initiative in formulating measures to prevent unauthorized electronic surveillance.
The Hankyoreh, 6 August 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Fight Fears of Mobile Phone Tapping |
