SDSM leader Zoran Zaev use applications for instant messaging WhatsApp and Viber to maintain daily communication, while he uses mobile phone very seldom.
To the question from META if he and his colleagues from the opposition, after receiving the materials from the “bomb”, refrain from using mobile phones, Zaev says that he uses the phone “no more or less”, but that he mostly communicates through the applications for instant messaging.
– Daily communication is necessary, as for other people and for me, and I usually use WhatsApp and Viber. It is the case already a few months ago because I had these materials for the wiretaps even before. I believe that after the publication of the recording, there is restraint on the use of mobile phones among the citizens, due to some internal impulse – said Zaev for META.
The application for instant messaging WhatsApp uses encrypted protection of communication that takes place through the application, making it difficult for monitoring by third parties.
After the attacks in satirical magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, one of the measures counter reactions to Islamic radicals that was pushed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, was to take down the encryption of the application WhatsApp, which terrorists used for communication.
Recordings announced by SDSM so far, as the party leader also pointed out, calls are tapped over the cellular network, on which he suggested that mobile operators bear part of the responsibility for monitoring the communications between current and former government ministers, politicians, journalists…
However, after this, the question whether, besides mobile communications, the fixed network was also monitored, including the Internet, is imposed.
Zaev refused to comment on these issues, i.e. to confirm or deny whether they have evidence of monitoring of such communication.
– I wouldn’t like to comment anything about it because I don’t want to give opponents more favorable position. We will announce everything we have – said Zaev for META.
Besides the mobile and fixed telephony, Macedonian citizens increasingly use free network Viber, owned by “Facebook”.
On 19th of January, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski met with the CEO of the company Viber Talmon Marco, director for technology development of the company Yigal Magaznik and Hirato Shinatro from company for Internet commerce “Rakuten”.
