In the last ten years alone, Aleksandar Vucic's regime in Serbia has imported over 20 IMSI-C (International Mobile Subscriber Identity-Catcher) devices.
This technique mimics the legal base stations of mobile operators, identifies and locates users, and then mass collects communications from all mobile phones within a radius of several hundred meters. This is according to a BIRN investigation. It stresses that despite the import of this equipment, the authorities in Belgrade have not changed the legislation, yes, which would regulate the use of these devices.
In the past year, Switzerland and Finland have issued 16 permits for the export of IMSI-C to Serbia, according to the foreign ministries of these two countries. One device, which the Serbian Interior Ministry purchased from a Swiss company, cost more than two million euros.
Public records show that the same suppliers have sold similar technology to countries known for human rights abuses, such as Namibia, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Colombia.
IMSI devices are portable and small enough to fit in a backpack and go unnoticed by their victims, making protection against their most intrusive features nearly impossible.
Police surveillance of mobile communications usually requires a court order and the mediation of the mobile operator. However, Jelena Peic Nikic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade-based Center for Security Policy, warns that IMSI-C in Serbia can be used outside of regular procedures.
"There is no public regulation governing the use of this specific technology. There are more general legal provisions under which it can be used, but even then it falls into a grey area, mainly due to potentially disproportionate oversight and lack of control. In any case, the police should not use this technology preventively, for example, to determine who is involved in anti-government demonstrations," Peić Nikić said.
Officially, IMSI-Cs are used for intelligence gathering, criminal investigations and searches. But they also allow mass surveillance of large numbers of people in certain areas, which civil society organisations and digital rights advocates have warned about for years.
These devices have no limitations; they can be used in any place and in any situation, constantly monitoring large numbers of users simultaneously.
In January 2014, when the protests in Kiev's central square against Ukraine's then pro-Russian president reached their peak, protesters received a message on their phones at exactly midnight: "Dear user, you are registered as a participant in a riot. | BGNES
