Kyrgyzstan’s parliament seems ready to authorise a significant expansion of the state security services’ powers to surveil citizens.

MPs approved a bill in its first reading that would give state security agents broad authority to snoop on private cell phone calls and texts. It would also give authorities the ability to cut cell phone service and employ facial recognition technology to track citizens’ movements. 

The bill “fundamentally alters the rules of the game within the country's telecommunications sector,” according to a commentary published by the 24KG news outlet. The bill would give the state security service (GKNB) operational control over digital technologies used for government-authorised information gathering. Telecom operators would continue to bear the cost of installing any needed surveillance technologies.

The GKNB would also gain “unimpeded access” to data compiled by telecom companies about their users. 

Deputy GKNB chairman Alisher Erbayev claimed that the new legislation is needed to fill “a legal vacuum” in the existing legal framework.

The bill would give the GKNB the power to temporarily shut off an individual’s mobile devices, ostensibly in the event of an armed conflict or a state of emergency. A citizen subject to a GKNB-initiated suspension of cell service would receive written notification stating the reason for the government action.

This story first appeared on Eurasianet here.