The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) condemns the adoption of the 11 July 2008 enactment by the Serbian state Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL), under which this regulatory body instructs Internet service providers to ensure electronic monitoring of global IT communication of Serbia’s residents by enabling state authorities charged with electronic monitoring, above all the Security Information Agency (BIA), with:a) access to their databases of users, including all the personal data of the users and their identification addresses, and periodically submitting them to the authorities;
access to databases of electronic mail users;
fully autonomous passive monitoring of Internet activities of all users and redirecting of their communication
interception of electronic mail, audio, video, instant messaging and peer-to-peer communication.
In its Instructions for Technical Requirements for Subsystems, Devices, Hardware and Installation of Internet Networks, RATEL also instructs Internet service providers to bear the costs of all of the above technical services, including links with BIA and the necessary equipment.
The RATEL enactment is in contravention of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights, which all protect the right to privacy of all residents of Serbia. The Constitution explicitly specifies in Article 41 that secrecy of letters and other forms of communication is inviolable and may be limited only if necessary for the purpose of criminal proceedings or protection of national security of the Republic of Serbia, as specified by law pursuant to a court order.
By issuing these instructions, RATEL has exceeded its authority: the secrecy of communication can be limited only by a law, not by subsidiary legislation. This enactment does not include any provisions on the protection of Serbian citizens’ privacy. Nor does it mention that Internet service providers are allowed to give information on their subscribers and their communication to state authorities only on pursuant to a court order. On the contrary, RATEL is thus handing over the keys to Serbian Internet to the Security and Intelligence Agency, at the expense of Internet service providers, i.e. their subscribers. Such restriction of civil rights and freedoms would give rise to concern even in the most developed democracies, let alone in Serbia, whose security agencies have been politically abused for decades.
The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights calls on RATEL to rescind its unconstitutional and illegal instructions. If it fails to do so, the Center will file a motion with the Constitutional Court of Serbia to assess the constitutionality of the enactment. The Centre appeals to Internet service providers to defend their rights and interests and thus avoid complicity in the violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and human rights of its citizens. The Centre also calls on the members of the public to rise in the defence of their rights and freedoms, instead of letting RATEL and BIA decide about them.
