Challenges for operators
Refusal to comply with a country’s laws is not an option
Doing so could result in:
- the removal of our licence to operate, preventing us from providing services to our customers.
- risk of harm or criminal sanctions, including imprisonment for our employees who live and work in the country.
We therefore have to balance our responsibility to respect our customers’ rights to privacy and freedom of expression against our legal obligation to respond to the authorities’ lawful demands, as well as our duty of care to our employees, recognising throughout our broader responsibilities as a corporate citizen to protect the public and prevent harm.
Perceptions of a tension between privacy and security are not static; the underlying factors evolve constantly and are a regular topic in our conversations with a wide range of people and organisations, including governments, privacy activists and NGOs, intelligence agencies, politicians and regulators.
Security and secrecy
We have a small team of specialists working in each of our operating companies around the world, who are tasked with liaising with agencies and authorities to process the demands we receive. They typically have national security clearance in their country of operation and are bound by strict national laws to maintain confidentiality.
These employees can’t discuss any aspect of a demand received (or whether or not one has been received at all), as doing so could potentially constitute an offence.
In some countries, they can’t even reveal that specific law enforcement assistance technical capabilities have been established. In many countries, breaching those restrictions would be a serious criminal offence, potentially leading to imprisonment or revocation of our operating licence.
Freedom of Expression
When we operate in a country, each of our subsidiary companies operates under a local licence (or other authorisation) issued by the government in which the subsidiary is located, and we are therefore subject to comply with the domestic laws of that country, which includes those set out in our licence. This includes a requirement to comply in relation to government demands.
However, where we can—taking account of all the risks including to staff safety—we seek to challenge orders or demands that appear to us to be overly broad, insufficiently targeted or disproportionate in nature, as long as it doesn’t create safety issues for our employees.
You can read more about our approach to law enforcement assistance here
You can read our principles and policies here
Transparency
We try to be as transparent as possible about law enforcement demands. However, in a number of countries, the law is unclear or disclosure is not permitted. We don’t publish statistics if we can’t get any clarity from the authorities on whether we can disclose or if we’re told not to. We have an obligation not to put our employees at risk.