Turkey’s Council of State grants stay of execution on unlimited sharing fixed-line recordings with TİB

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet

Turkey’s Council of State has issued a stay of execution for an earlier decision issued by the Communication Technologies Institution (BTK) in 2013 which orders telecom companies to share all fixed-line telephone recordings with the Directorate of Telecommunication (TİB).

The Turkish Competitive Telco Operators Association (TELKODER) has filed a lawsuit to the Council of State against the decision in August last year.

TELKODER Yusuf Atak said they did not find the right to collect all of the conversations on behalf of freedom of communication and citizen’s privacy, adding the new practice meant additional costs for the companies.

“We read the news that about 1 million people were wiretapped. Politicians have complained about it. If all phone conversations are shared, it is normal the wiretapping numbers are that high,” Atak said.

The number of people who are wiretapped with court desicions never exceeds one per thousand, Atak said, adding that some telecoms companies shared the recordings with the TİB after the desicion and did not ask why the information was demanded.