Vodafone

Vodafone

The world’s second-biggest mobile phone company Vodafone revealed government agencies in six unidentified countries use its network to listen to and record customers’ calls, showing the scale of telecom eavesdropping around the world. The United States and Britain both came in for global scrutiny and criticism after Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), disclosed their vast phone, email and internet surveillance operations. But Vodafone (VOD.L), which has 400 million customers in countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, said in its “Disclosure Report” on Friday that countries in its reach are using similar practices. While most governments needed legal notices to tap into customers’ communications, there were six countries where that was not the case, it said.

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