Vodafone has revealed the existence of secret wires that allow national governments listen to citizen's mobile phone conversations.
The company is the first operator to reveal the surveillance practices of governments and has published a far-reaching report on Law Enforcement Disclosure.
The mobile phone operator says surveillance techniques are widespread in some of the 29 countries it operates in.
Vodafone says its customers have a right to privacy which it wants to protect, but that in every country it has a presence, they have to abide by domestic laws which require them to disclose customer information to law enforcement authorities.
Irish authorities have asked Vodafone not to publish information on what sort of data is intercepted here.
