On Wiretapping Citizens: Who is Allowed and How it is Done Today

In the regional topic of Novi dan on N1, wiretapping was discussed, and the guest was Goran Kovačević, who pointed out that not all secrets are secrets that need to be monitored, and added that only agencies and institutions with jurisdiction, by court order, can wiretap conversations and intercept emails.

Modern technologies have contributed to anyone who wants to easily monitor any type of communication. It is very easy to record or wiretap, regardless of whether we are calling via landline or mobile phone, or sending an email or fax. Secret services and the police have access to all this information. And not only them. Wiretapping devices are available to everyone.

- Wiretapping is only done with a court order. When you send something to someone via a server, installed devices redirect the communication to a place where the message is analyzed, decrypted, and then it is determined whether the content can be the subject of a criminal offense - said the guest of Novi dan, who is also a professor at the Faculty of Criminal Justice, Criminology and Security.

And is wiretapping in our country done according to EU standards?

- According to procedures, yes, but not according to technology. What do European standards mean? We had a situation where the US was wiretapping Angela Merkel's conversations, now I ask you, is that a European standard? That is an American standard - he said.

Kovačević added that in our country, only those individuals who can be linked to a criminal offense are wiretapped. This is done in the following way:

- Some law enforcement agency receives an anonymous or some other type of tip that someone intends to commit a criminal offense. Every person who comes into contact with that person will be recorded and registered. That person can come into contact with 100, 1,000 people, so those people will also be recorded, but not wiretapped - he said.

Do citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina have reason to worry, Nerma Turić asked Goran Kovačević?

- Citizens should not worry, they should just try not to commit criminal offenses, because every secret conversation is not something that needs to be monitored and wiretapped - he explained.

And how can someone find out if their conversations are being wiretapped?

- There are various techniques, by dialing codes on phones. However, the surest way to find out if someone is being wiretapped is to receive a letter from the supervisory agency stating that they were wiretapped during a certain period, and why - said the guest this morning.

He pointed out that everyone should know which conversation is for the phone and which topic is for email. There are people with great technical knowledge, and paranoia is a big problem in Bosnian society.

- On social networks, people reveal everything. They share hundreds of pieces of information about themselves, and everyone sees it. These are smart networks, and such people should not be wiretapped because they reveal their routines there."

The most important thing is that a person knows who they are and what they are, according to Goran Kovačević.

- If we have access to information that is marked as strictly confidential, then we must be aware that individuals who are not superiors will want to know that information - he said, and concluded that there is no need to keep statistics on wiretapping in Bosnia and Herzegovina - because it should not be a public matter, i.e., a matter of public statistics.

Marija Antić also joined from the N1 studio in Belgrade, who pointed out that the common thing for all wiretapped conversations in Serbia is that they were never fully resolved, and just like in Bosnia and Herzegovina, everything is done by court order. There are no controls in the field, wiretapping is forbidden - and equipment can be bought at every step.

What is the procedure for wiretapping without a warrant?

- It is not easy to answer, because there are various forms of espionage. Industrial espionage, wiretapping of the political opposition, intercepting communication for blackmail. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is what it is. I do not express doubt towards institutions, but I always have doubts towards people who come from the political world. They are not aware of professional standards, and it is impossible for us to refuse a boss when they order us to do something - he explained, adding that the situation is similar in Serbia.

A similar situation exists with Croatia, which also has wiretapping scandals. The latest is that measures were taken against Zdravko Mamić, and President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was a "collateral victim", whose transcripts ended up in the hands of Zoran Milanović.

There is a proposal for increased surveillance cameras in traffic, due to the reduction of the risk of terrorist attacks, and Mašenka Vukadinović's question was whether this reduces privacy?

- Let's take the example of Italy, which is an EU country like Croatia, they introduced a law because of the mafia, which states that all conversations are recorded and archived for 10 years. When a certain agency initiates criminal proceedings against someone, they have an archive of 10 years of who that person has been in communication with - he explained, adding that a similar solution would not be out of place to introduce here.

In the end, he said that "it is not problematic that someone was wiretapped, but that someone in a professional relationship gave that information to the public".