Court blocks Malawi ‘spy machine’

A long-standing furore over a planned ‘spy machine’ has been laid to rest in a Malawi court.

The so-called ‘spy machine’ was a tracking system planned by the government’s Malawi Communications Regulatory Agency (MACRA) to track telephone calls and the revenue owed to government.

However, detractors expressed fears that it could also be used to listen in on calls and track who called whom.

Blantyre resident Alick Kimu took the matter to court, filing a suit against all four telephone operators in Malawi.

The Lilongwe Commercial Court ruled that the right to privacy is enshrined in the Constitution.