Despite frequent official affirmations to the contrary, wiretapping remains out of control throughout the entire world. Telecom Italia has been cought
spying on millions of people, recording phone calls, network related data (and possibly internet traffic!) of selected persons, using equipment
originally installed for the purpose of lawful wiretapping.
www.edri.org
Telecom Italia, one of the major electronic communications providers in Italy is in the middle of a huge scandal regarding the illegal wiretapping
and surveillance of the telephone networks.
The journalists from the weekly L'Espresso have proven that an entire system called Radar was capable of recording sensitive information about
millions of Italians. The system was discovered by the internal audit, but also by the Milan Prosecutors that have opened an investigation against
Marco Mancini, the deputy director and director of the first "foreign" or counter-intelligence division SISMI (Military Intelligence and Security
Service) and his friends Giuliano Tavaroli former director of security in Telecom Italia and Emanuele Cipriani, owner of the private investigation
company Polis d'Istinto.
...
The situation has become much more complicated after the recent death of Adamo Bove, an investigation cop and a leading expert on electronic
surveillance who apparently committed suicide by jumping from the highway. Bove had been hired by TIM to manage their Radar software system and had
discovered a flaw in the system allowing people to enter the Telecom system without a trace. He announced the fact to the Milan magistrates, that has
lead to the above-mentioned top-secret investigation.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
This was a debacle waiting to happen, accessing personal data of anybody and everybody is just too alluring to criminals and secret services, with
potentially dire consequences. By using these resources Organized Crime becomes an unstoppable force, both, by obtaining material for use in blackmail
and direct use of sensitive information such as PIN codes, bank account statistics, or simply knowledge of personal habits, which make a potential
victim much more vulnerable to any sort of attack.
My source is mainly writing about phone taps, but consider the situation in the age of cellphone monitoring - and localising - as well the Internet!
As long as these systems remain in place, our society will have to face the continuous threat of subversion, it's no longer the question *if* we will
stumble headfirst into a true Orwellian dictatorship, it's merely a matter of when.
Related News Links:
www.repubblica.it
Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
US Judge Halts Warrantless Wiretapping by NSA
Check if NSA warrantless surveillance is looking at your IP traffic
AOL Gives Department of Homeland Security Unlimited Surveillance Power
[edit on 22-9-2006 by Long Lance]
[edit on 22-9-2006 by Long Lance]