CAIRO: When Rashad Mahmood's mobile phone stopped working earlier this month, it came as a surprise. But when a text message was sent asking him to update his personal information with Vodofone Egypt, he was confused. The staff writer for Business Monthly – a publication run through the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt – didn't know what was going on. “Then when I used it during the day I got directly connected to their call center where a friendly Vodofone employee took my name, address, passport number and birth date,” he tells of the odd situation. “Then my phone worked normally. I asked one of my Egyptian co-workers and he said that he had the same experience a few months ago.” There is much speculation as to why Vodofone is attempting to gather personal information of its users. Bikya Masr's Dalia Ziada also had a similar encounter with her Vodofone line this year. She is as confused as everyone. When Vodofone Egypt was contacted about the reasons behind gathering the personal information of its clients, the representative, who did not give their name, dodged giving specifics. “This is a regular update to make sure we know how to contact our customers in a time of emergency,” the agent said. “Someone from Vodafone called and said they are making a survey about the service. He kept asking me some few questions, very naive ones, then he asked for my information, although I am already a registered user with a contract,” revealed Ziada. She questioned whether this is part of the Egyptian government's attempts to track people in the country, much like Syria and Iran have been doing for years. In Syria, when purchasing a sim card, all relevant personal information is taken down, including a passport number. Sounds easy and simple. Not so fast, argue a number of activists and anyone who has been to Syria. Each sim card is easily traced by the governmnet via a GPS system. When entering a new area of town, or the country, an SMS is sent to the phone telling the user where they are located. “This can be quite scary, even for tourists, but when it comes down to people who are living in the country and doing things the government doesn't like, then they can be tracked and arrested with ease,” said one Syrian activist who has been repeatedly harassed by police. In Egypt, the “updates” to personal information have received little media fanfare, partly because those like Mahmood and Ziada didn't think twice about what was happening. But, for others, the situation could prove more worrying if the government has a hand in the process, which could have thousands, if not millions, of mobile users' information on record in Egypt. The interior ministry says they do not know what these customers are talking about, arguing they have had no contact with Vodofone concerning gathering information. “We do not do this and we do not need to track all people with mobile phones in the country. It is too many,” said Ahmed Shaaban, a ministry official. In Iran last summer, following the controversial and disputed election, the government cracked down on mobile phone use, cutting the international network and even the domestic network for periods of time. A number of activists were allegedly rounded up and arrested due to the government's ability to track them through the GPS network in mobile phone sim cards. It may be too early to tell what the result will be from Vodofone's “information gathering,” but already activists in Egypt are worried that it could mean more government control of personal space. “I don't like the direction this country is heading and it seems the government is trying to control people more than ever. It is not looking like our future will be better than the past,” said Amr Abdel Salam, an Egyptian web designer. BM
