“Gov’t Plans to Install Surveillance Equipment”, 10 December 2014

The government is planning to install surveillance equipment on the networks of Cambodia’s mobile phone operators and Internet service providers (ISPs), a senior Interior Ministry official said…vindicating concerns about inspections the ministry quietly conducted on telecommunications firms in October…[According to the] director of the Interior Ministry’s internal security department…“what is important for us now is that we can strictly control people using the Internet and mobile [networks].”…[A] government spokesman [said]…the government would only “officially” use the surveillance equipment with approval from the court…Rights groups…roundly condemned the use of spying equipment by a government that lacks transparency, in tandem with courts that lack independence…“All indicators point to greater internet control and censorship which will be bad for both the Cambodian people as well as international business in the country” [said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch]…