A Kenyan court on Thursday declared unconstitutional a plan by the country’s communications regulator requiring mobile service providers to give them access to their systems in a bid to guard against fake gadgets.
The case was filed by rights activist Okiya Omtatah, who claimed that the move allows the Communications Authority (CA) access to Kenyans’ private information such as mobile transactions information.
In 2017 CA acquired a device which can collect text, voice and identity data from mobile phones.
The plan was also rejected by industry players including Safaricom, which raised concern that the device management system (DMS) could be used as a backdoor to gain access to sensitive customer data and exposing operators to legal risks.
The CA however defended the move, saying that it had partly been influenced by complaints from Rwanda that unregistered phones were being used by Kenyan fraudsters to con unsuspecting users.
The body hoped the device would help tackle the vice.
