Ministry rejects police request for false mobile phone base stations
Officials want more study on implications of proposed surveillance technique
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The Ministry of Transport and Communications last spring rejected calls by police for a new way to listen in on mobile telephone calls.
The government is considering a proposal supported by the European Union and Finnish police officials for a mandatory registry of telephone records and Internet contacts.
Under the proposal, records of telephone and Internet records would be kept for at least one year.
Finnish police also called for the setting up of false base stations which would make it possible to unscramble mobile phone calls.
The false base stations are impossible to detect, because mobile phones interact with them in the same way that they do with real ones. They would nevertheless give police access to the mobile phone codes, making it possible to listen in on calls.
Officials believe that foreign intelligence services already use such devices.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Ministry of the Interior submitted statements to Parliament last year during debate over a bill on data protection for electronic communications.
In rejecting the request, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said that granting police the right to use such a device would require an analysis of the technical and social impact of such a move.
Helsingin Sanomat
