The National Assembly in the first reading, with 57 for, 24 against and 1 abstention, adopted the Draft Laws on Amendments to the RA Law on Legal Regime of State of Emergency and the Law on Electronic Communication.
According to the draft law, the customer’s location will be found out through the operator used by the customer receiving a public electronic communications service.
The numbers having direct or indirect (mediated) connection with the individual’s phone number, the data needed to find out the date, start and end of the telephone conversation will also be collected. In case of the calls that are forwarded or transmitted, the data of those telephone numbers will be collected to which the call was either forwarded or transmitted. The same refers to the short messages.
“Media Advocate” Initiative condemns the existence of such a project. It is a direct interference into people’s personal lives. Thus, a third side is given the opportunity to violate fundamental human rights, that is the protection of personal data.
According to media expert Samvel Martirosyan: “This is a disproportionate measure because it is not clear how this may help in the framework of the quarantine. It’s a good tool in terms of political control. Besides, public oversight of data collection and future destruction should be established. We should not rely on the good will of the government in this perspective.” Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan also opposed the bill.
“Media Advocate” initiative urges to refrain from using the state of emergency and the current situation in the interests of the authorities.
