- Activists seek protocols to curb use for propaganda
- Bahrain, Malaysia and China cited as risky states
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| Vodafone was ordered to cut the signal in certain areas of Egypt in January. Photograph Chris Ison/PA Archive/PA Photos |
Vodafone
Group is to meet human rights campaigners to discuss how it can prevent its
networks being hijacked by repressive regimes after it was forced to send out
pro-government messages and shut down its network by the Egyptian government
during the uprising at the start of the year.
At
Vodafone's annual meeting in London on Tuesday, Brett Solomon, director of
lobby group Access, asked: "How prepared are you for the future crises
that are sure to happen in the 70-odd countries in which you operate?
"Will
you ensure that you are both able to protect your staff and the integrity of
the network, but not in the position of having to once again shut down the
internet or send pro-regime messages to your customers?"
Access
named Bahrain, China and Malaysia as areas where telecoms companies should
prioritise drawing up clear protocols. Bahrain has seen civil unrest this year
and has a history of shutting down mobile services.
Last year
SIM card users were forced to register their details. More than 400,000 of those
who did not were cut off. Zain, Vodafone's partner in Bahrain, complied with
the restrictions.
Along with
two other mobile operators, France Telecom and Etisalat, Vodafone was ordered
to cut the signal in certain areas of Egypt in January. It claims to have been
the first to restore its service, doing so after 24 hours, but access to the
internet remained blocked for five days.
Pro-government
messages were sent to Vodafone customers during the early days of February,
including the following call: "To every mother-father-sister-brother, to
every honest citizen preserve this country as the nation is forever."
Outgoing
Vodafone chairman Sir John Bond told the annual meeting that Vodafone only
holds licences directly with governments in 26 countries, adding: "We have
no discretion to negotiate variations. In every case … network operators are
subject to similar legal provisions to those used in Egypt earlier this year.
Any process to elaborate a new approach to human rights and communications must
involve governments as well as industry and NGOs."
Promising
the company would meet Access, Bond added: "Respect for human rights forms
part of our assessment of any market into which we move our operations."
Access
wants telecoms companies to agree crisis protocols with governments. These
should ensure users can make emergency calls at all times, that calls and
emails are not hacked, that networks are shut down for minutes or hours rather
than days and that carriers cannot be used to disseminate propaganda.
Phone and
internet companies are frequently forced to choose between protecting freedom
of expression and commercial interests. Research in Motion, maker of the
BlackBerry, faces a ban in India for refusing to provide access to customers'
emails. Google exited China after its servers were attacked to extract
confidential information about activists and Pakistan blocked Facebook and
YouTube last year.
Gerard
Kleisterlee, the former chief executive of German electronics firm Philips, was
elected to succeed Bond as chairman. His arrival marks the first time
Vodafone's two most senior leaders have been drawn from outside the UK – chief
executive Vittorio Colao is Italian.
Colao
continued to tread softly on the issue of Vodafone's 45% stake in the US group
Verizon Wireless. Some investors are keen for Vodafone to take over the entire
company or sell its stake. Verizon has promised to start paying a dividend from
2012, and the two companies are cooperating on joint purchasing and on
servicing multinational clients.
"What
I see are the tangible benefits of cooperation, working well together,"
said Colao.
Bond added:
"One of the board's major roles is to unlock the value of the investment
but that is going to have to be done very, very carefully."
Verizon
chief operating officer Lowell McAdam takes over as chief executive next week,
and has been working with Colao for the last 18 months to increase joint
working. He told analysts last week there were no immediate merger plans.
"We
can leverage each other's scale, but I would not send any kind of messages here
that something like that's immediately on the horizon."
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