An undisclosed number of countries have direct backdoor access to the communications passing through the network of telecommunications giant Vodafone, without needing to obtain a warrant, according to a new transparency report released by the company.
Governments in these countries have direct cables or interception systems connected to the networks of Vodafone and other telecoms, which allow them to silently intercept and record all communications that pass over the networks. This happens at the flick of a switch and without the countries obtaining court permission or notifying the telecoms that they are accessing the data, according to Vodafone.

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