asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the position with regard to the confidentiality of telephone calls both direct and through the operator system; the statutory regulations, if any, governing the confidentiality of telephone calls; if it is the practice to listen in to calls; and if he will make a comprehensive statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Telephone Call Confidentiality.
8.
, Dublin South-Central): All telephone calls, whether dialled directly or through an operator, are regarded as confidential by my Department. Any unauthorised disclosure of information obtained by staff in the course of their work would be an offence under the provisions of the Telegraph Act, 1868, and of the Official Secrets Act, 1963.
It is a standard part of telephone operating procedures to monitor calls for such purposes as ensuring that connection is established satisfactorily, that conversation is continuing where calls are timed and, in the case of most emergency calls, to verify that the message is transmitted satisfactorily and to help in any way possible. Departmental operating regulations provide, however, that operators should not listen in unnecessarily to calls and it is one of the duties of supervisors to check that they do not do so.
What are the regulations which govern the access that operators or anybody else may have to telephone calls?
(Dublin South-Central): I have just told the Deputy that the Acts concerned are the Telegraph Act, 1868 and the Official Secrets Act, 1963.
Is it an offence for a person to release publicity information gained from a telephone call to which he had listened in? For one reason or another calls are listened into from time to time and I am wondering to what extenet that liberty can be abused, regardless of it being publicly released.
(Dublin South-Central): As I pointed out in the reply, it is necessary at times for operators to assist callers especially in relation to emergency calls. This is to ensure that calls are properly connected and received. Of course, it is necessary in the case of a manual exchange for the operator to assist with a call.
The Minister, though perhaps not deliberately, is evading the issue. I am not asking whether the operators assist people in regard to connecting calls and so on but in the context of the current dispute it is the practice apparently for operators to listen in to a call for the purpose of ensuring that it is of sufficient importance to warrant direct connection. To what extent may an operator listen in on an entire call and is such a situation governed sufficiently by the Department?
(Dublin South-Central): Operators should not listen in unnecessarily to calls and it is the duty of the supervisor to ensure that there is no unnecessary listening in.
Is the Minister aware that there has been a marked increase in the incidence of crossed lines whereby members of the public can listen to calls being made confidentially by other members of the public? Is there any way of avoiding this situation?
(Dublin South-Central): That is a matter that is being monitored all the time.
By whom?
It is possible to pick up any phone in this House and to listen in on calls being made between people who are outside the House.