EXPERTS have raised concerns over the use of spyware and other digital surveillance technologies in Nigeria, warning that their deployment could undermine privacy, personal autonomy, the work of journalists and human rights activists.
The experts spoke on Wednesday, September 16, at a virtual meeting on X space, organised by The ICIR on the use of spyware and digital surveillance tools and their implications for human rights.
The discussion formed part of an ICIR’s investigatiive project examining the use of spyware and digital surveillance, including how the technologies are deployed, who procures them, the laws governing their use and their implications for privacy, freedom of expression, activism, journalism and related activities.
Speaking on the matter, Natalia Krapiva, a senior tech legal counsel, said journalists and activists were increasingly being targeted with sophisticated surveillance technologies worldwide.
Explaining spyware, Krapiva said it was designed to secretly obtain information from a person’s electronic device.
“Spyware is a malicious technology installed remotely on a person electronic device without their knowledge and done to obtain access. It could be messages, photos, contact files and even keystrokes,” she said.
She said mass surveillance could also be used to monitor protesters and people who disagreed with governments.
Krapiva said the consequences of spyware could extend beyond the immediate loss of privacy, adding that a profound consequence of the spyware technology is the destruction of personal and professional lives.
She called for stronger regulation of surveillance technologies, particularly where they are abused in ways that violated human rights.
Krapiva also said journalists and civil rights activists should be protected from surveillance abuses.
The legal view
Olumide Babalola, a digital rights lawyer and Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Privacy Law Reports, said surveillance was not inherently unlawful but must be conducted within the limits prescribed by law.
Babalola said surveillance was employed in different settings, including situations that might not ordinarily be associated with sophisticated digital technology.
He said the consequences of surveillance often went beyond arrest or prosecution, noting that the loss of personal autonomy was rarely considered.
“The injury we see most times is when someone is arrested and maybe charged or something. What we don’t see is the loss of personal autonomy. The fact that what one ordinarily thinks is in the private is actually being watched by some people who are in the public, so to speak,” he said.
Babalola said Nigerian laws provided circumstances under which communications could be intercepted, citing the Constitution, the Nigerian Communications Act and regulations issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
Babalola also referred to the NCC’s Lawful Interception of Communications Regulations (2019) which provides procedures for lawful interception, including provisions relating to warrants.
He said similar exceptions existed in laws governing communications, cybercrime and personal data, particularly in matters involving criminal investigations and national security.
However, he stressed that legal powers to conduct surveillance did not give law enforcement agencies unlimited powers.
“So, surveillance itself, as dangerous as it is… the law, in certain circumstances, empowers the law enforcement agencies and some other entities to conduct surveillance. But the rider is, it must be lawful. It must comply with the law.”
On her part, the Assistant Manager, Regulations Unit of the National Data Protection Commission, Ibukunoluwa Owa, said organisations and individuals collecting personal information must comply with data protection laws.
Owa also urged the public to distinguish between spyware and surveillance, saying the distinction was important in determining the appropriate legal response.
“It is important to know the difference between spyware and surveillance as your course of action is dependent on these two,” she said.
She added that surveillance should meet standards of reasonableness and justification.
Journalists, activists targeted
The Editor-in-Chief of Daylight Reporters, Fidelis Macleva, said his experience pursuing stories related to the project enable him to acquire in-depth knowledge of the consequences of surveillance for journalists, activists and other citizens.
Macleva, a journalist with over two decades of experience, said he encountered cases where surveillance equipment was allegedly deployed against journalists and human rights activists.
“I can tell you that from my own experience on the field, I’ve seen cases where this equipment was deployed to invade the privacy of human rights activists, journalists, and other citizens,” he said.
He said some journalists had been arrested and detained while carrying out their professional duties.
Police defend digital tools
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Police Force National Cybercrime Centre defended the need for digital investigative tools.
Udodinma Omaka, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), who was part of the panelists said the nature of crimes had changed with the growth of digital technology, making it necessary for law enforcement agencies to develop the capacity to investigate crimes involving cyberspace.
Omaka said the National Cybercrime Centre was established in response to the growing use of digital technologies in criminal activities.
He said criminals increasingly used sophisticated digital tools, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes without similar capabilities.
“We all know that criminals, of course, use most sophisticated cybersecurity tools. There is hardly any crime that is committed nowadays that has no link to the cyberspace.”
According to Omaka, the centre’s operational powers were derived from the Cybercrimes Act 2021, as amended.
He said investigators could obtain information from open sources and individuals suspected of violating the law.
“Sometimes, some of this information are gotten directly from the suspect, from the suspect or from the victims or wherever it is required, either by collecting their hardware, that is their phones,” he said.
He added, “No phone is obtained under duress, and no digital hardware is obtained under duress. But in the course of our investigation, if any of such gadgets are required for investigation, of course, they are taken away from you.”
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M