ALMATY, Dec 9
(THE GLOBE)
Following the Kazakhstani government of a new decree on telecommunications, there has been nation-wide fears of censorship and debate about state monitoring of the Internet and other communication. It is interesting to take a look at communication monitoring in other countries, in particular in Russia and the USA.
Russia
According to the Moscow Times newspaper, Russian Internet providers install devices that allow the FSB to read electronic messages and to track their Internet operations.
Every Russian Internet provider must give the local FSB department access to its electronic traffic with an operative-search capability. Providers must supply Russian security officers with compatible equipment at their own expense.
The newspaper states that while most providers prefer to simply ignore this requirement, Bayard-Slavia Communications, a Volgograd internet provider, opposed the practice. As a result, the company faced serious trouble from local authorities; several times the company was closed.
USA
In early November, BBC reported that the mythical worldwide espionage network Echelon actually exists. Echelon is reportedly able to tap any telephone call, and to see any fax or E-mail. The USA and the UK have continued to deny the existence of Echelon, but BBC ascertains that they possess confirmative documents from the Australian government. In one such document, the Australian general inspector of security and intelligence admits that the Australian Defense Signals Directorate (DSD) is a part of the Echelon network.
Another piece of evidence is a 1997 report of the European Parliament Commission on civil rights, which reports that the US National Security Agency (NSA) along with intelligence agencies of some countries (Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand) monitor this system. The report contains information that NSA intercepted during a telephone conversation between a French company and a Brazilian firm. The information was then transferred to a competing American company which subsequently concluded a contract with Brazilians.
In alliance with European colleagues, US Congressman Bob Barr offered to hold hearings on Echelon in the US Congress. In an interview with BBC, Barr blamed DSD for violating the civil rights of American citizens.
# 1787 Dated November 25, 1999
On Establishment of the National State Economic Enterprise National Billing and Telecommunication Traffic Center*
1. To establish the national state enterprise National Billing and Telecommunication Traffic Center subordinate to the Minister of Transport and Communication of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
7. To supplement the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan #1443 dated November 26, 1996 �On Approval of the Provision on the Order of Licensing of Business Activity in Mail and Telecommunication Filed, Usage of Radio-Frequencies in the Republic of Kazakhstan� (SAPP Republic of Kazakhstan, 1996 #48, p. 469) with the following:
In the Provisions on the Order of Licensing of Business Activity in the Mail and Telecommunication Field, Usage of Radio-Frequencies in the Republic of Kazakhstan approved by the above decree, point 17 is supplemented with an eighth paragraph: �On obligatory determination of routes of international communication services (traffic) through the registration system of the authorized organization.�
9. To take measures to guarantee registration and distribution of the address space of global networks such as the Internet in Kazakhstan. To represent interests of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the international networks like the Internet.
10. This decree is valid from the date of publication, except point 7 which comes into effect on January 1, 2000.
Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan K. Tokaev
* Note: full text not published.
The fact of the world�s obtaining more detailed information about Kazakhstan would no doubt favour creating an unbiased, positive image of the young state.
I do hope that owing to evergrowing opportunities of the Internet Kazakhstan will no longer remain a terra incognita on the electronic map of the world.
N. Nazarbayev
(http://www.president.kz/main/mainframe.asp?lng=en)
ALMATY, Dec 8
(THE GLOBE)
Hysteria that the governmental decree on establishing a National Billing Center will allow censorship of the Internet is simply hysteria, said Kurt Hopkins, financial director of Nursat, one of the leading Internet providers in Kazakhstan.
In an interview with THE GLOBE, Hopkins explained that many people immediately thought that the government intended to censor the Internet, but that the decree in fact has nothing to do with the Internet. It deals with the registration of domain names, and monitoring the process in which they are granted. �This is a very reasonable step to regulate Internet space; The US government tries to do the same,� Hopkins said.
According to the financial director, the main objective of the innovation is to collect revenues on telephone communications that were not previously taxable and caused an unfavorable situation in the market.
Some foreign operators have established unlicensed satellite equipment. Thus, they do not pay taxes and through discounted prices, attract a significant amount of telephone traffic. Meanwhile, legal operators, including Nursat, incur losses.
At the same time, there are some large telephone clients that do not pay in Kazakhstan, but in the offshore Caspian zone�and hence, are not taxed. The new decree will enable the government to supervise this field. Another aspect of the decree is that all international calls are to go through Kazaktelecom. This fact dissatisfies some operators.
Hopkins emphasized that the initiative was directed to monitoring both incoming and outgoing telephone traffic, to compare official payments against the real quantity of telecommunication traffic. It is not a censorship of content, but just a monitoring of technical characteristics. He believes that the government has no plan to monitor the Internet; it would be an expensive measure that might damage Kazakhstan�s image as a country with a developing democracy.
The financial director said that presently, all telephone companies wondered how this decree would be used, as it may restrict flexibility of their operations and might reduce the quality of their services. The Ministry of Transport and Communications and Kazaktelecom held a meeting of all telephone system operators, who now hope for an appropriate decision.
Some companies in the Kazakhstan telecommunications market consider the new decree evidence of the government�s desire to increase taxes on operator revenues.
Askar DARIMBET
ALMATY, Dec 9
(THE GLOBE)
THE GLOBE asked Askar Nasiev, the director of the Telecommunication and Mail Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, to comment on points 7 and 9 of the new telecommunications decree.
�The objective of point 9 is to work out address systems for the global Internet network and order the distribution of address space, on the basis of the international standards. That only means regulating addresses used by Kazakhstani users to avoid doubling and uncontrolled usage of names that do not match real users. Thus, a proper regulating system will allow us to avoid further disorder. It does not mean any censorship. The [Communication] Ministry, moreover, does not have this type of function.
International traffic of all telecommunication operators in Kazakhstan are to go through the BTT (Billing and Telecommunication Traffic) Center. The goal of the center is to register the volumes of international communication services in minutes, and the quantity of calls. The volume of transmitted traffic will not be regulated at all; no norms of traffic volume are introduced. I say, once again, that volumes will be registered to submit this information to the Ministry of State Revenues and the Transport Control Committee. The latter has a Department on Monitoring Communication with supervisory functions.
This does not mean that the Department will supervise a user, but the volumes of international traffic of all separate operators. At present, many operators have an independent outlet to the international market. They either have their own satellite communication systems with the control center in Kazakhstan (directly agree upon with foreign operators) or some operators are users of foreign satellite systems. These operators possess only terminal satellite equipment, but both the control center and the billing center are outside Kazakhstan. Hence, in fact, it is impossible for anybody in Kazakhstan to monitor what volume of services an operator provides. At present, we may merely opt to believe or not believe the data that is submitted to the tax bodies.�
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