Corruption and favouritism are nothing new in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is about to launch a system called Device Identification and Blocking System (DIRBS). Outwardly, the system will verify all telecom devices mainly mobile phones but the work being done in the background is highly sensitive and it violates the privacy of Pakistani citizens.
The system will gather the data of all the mobile phones and the SIM based devices that are operational in Pakistan. The DIRBS project on the whole is worth millions of dollars and the project is gifted to a company without any legal and government rules and regulations. An article published in a local newspaper highlighted the corruption and nepotism within the PTA. According to the article, the PTA has not sought proposals from different companies for implementation of the DIRBS, a national-level database. They have not only outsourced the (Equipment Identity Register) EIR database but have also made four committees to execute its implementation without going through the procedures set by the Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authority.
Corruption and favouritism are nothing new in Pakistan. But the point of concern is the matter of Pakistanis’ right to privacy and security. Why is the PTA trying to reinvent an already existing system? More importantly, why is the PTA outsourcing such an important project to a third party and giving them access to critical data?
The company is working on DIRBS on behalf of Qualcomm, an American chip manufacturing company, and the data that will be shared with the PTA from all the operators will be passed on to them. Both of these companies can use our data locally and internationally without our approval. This is an issue of national security the data which contains devices IMEI, SIM numbers and IMSI will be passed on to a third party, one of which is not even registered in Pakistan. Imagine what all this data shared with a third party can do? The details of our devices will be recorded, ie, the mobile phone we are using, operating system, the model of mobile phone, SIM number working on that device, etcetera. This data can be sold to companies making mobile phone devices and for advertisements but most importantly it will compromise the privacy of Pakistanis.
To stop illegal import of devices, many countries use operators help and combine the data collected and make a central database. All the operators have EIR that collects all the device and SIM details and can discontinue the illegal devices. EIR is mandatory equipment that each operator has installed in their network. Most of the countries who want to stop illegal imports combine the EIR of all the operators and make a Central EIR System. This can easily be done in Pakistan. But instead of taking the easier route, the PTA is planning to introduce a completely different, DIRBS. This is not only impractical but also involves participation of non-government third party’s access to sensitive consumer data.
Recently, the interior minister cancelled the agreement between NADRA and MasterCard, citing sensitive security concerns. This just gave me hope that perhaps a similar decision might be taken for DIRBS as well.
Farhad Mohsin
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2017.
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