Greek governments phones taped for over a year

by **Gouda** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:01 am

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by **hmm** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:26 am

This link has a good synopsis of the case so far for people that dont have the time to read everything related: <a href="http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=623">www.balkanalysis.com/modu...le&sid=623</a> The scandal seems to be good for Vodafone's legitimate business in greece: <a href="http://betabug.ch/blogs/ch-athens/301">betabug.ch/blogs/ch-athens/301</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> The phone tapping scandal has been a public relations disaster on the scale of a nuclear bomb for Vodafone Greece. Vodafone has disappeared from the market. No TV spots any more (they used to be on all channels), no posters, no mention of their sponsorship for the Greek soccer team, pop star Sakis Rouvas, and others. They had started out well enough on the initial press conference, cooperating with the authorities. promising that they had done the right thing, that they had handed everything over. That changed soon enough... ~snip~ Since then it's silence on the advertising media. Vodafone is perceived only through the news. And the journalists are not kind to them, especially Vodafone boss George Koronias is being quoted only in a defensive stance. I haven't seen him appear in person on TV, as if standing up and facing things wasn't bearable. Obviously Vodafone has decided to wait it out in silence. Makes me wonder: They're not just your average Greek company, they are a subsidiary of an international multi. Can't they hire some PR pros who know how to handle a crisis? Or did the pros tell them to shut it up completely? The cost of no advertising It must cost them a lot. It's not that existing customers are switching in drones. But starting out with a new contract or switching your contract to Vodafone (something often done to get a new phone or new services) isn't really regarded as the cool thing any more. Plus: they have to hype their new added value services. 3G, video calls, all the toys. That is the business that goes down without exposure. Let's face it, the usefulness of a video call is near zero in most cases. Nobody thinks about it if it doesn't get hyped. ~snip~ Some people talk about them expecting Vodafone Greece to close down. They believe that Vodafone won't recover from this bomb. I don't think so. They will wait it out and some day it will all be mostly forgotten. Pushed back by the next big media bang. Hopefully they learned something from it. The other players in the market sure did, but I don't know if it's the right thing they learned. They probably had a very good look at their installed software. But if they found anything, they would not be so stupid as to make it public now. That's something of a solution too.<hr></blockquote> The government cant stop spinning and lying: <a href="http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=3918052&maindocimg=3720896&service=6">www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/sh...&service=6</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Asked why the ADAE had not been informed, the spokesman replied that this "was not the government's obligation". He also denied that the government had additional lists of people whose phones had been tapped, noting that all the facts at the government's disposal had been made public.<hr></blockquote> but we learn otherwise here: <a href="http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4509">www.greeknewsonline.com/m...e&sid=4509</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> Athens.- Thirty unknown people, whose names have not been released so far, are included on the wiretaps list. As per an article that appeared on To Vima paper, the list of the 103 people bugged, police authorities are aware of, includes 30 pre-paid mobile phones, whose holders are unknown. The initial investigation has shown that some of the aforementioned pre-paid mobiles belong to individuals affiliated with anarchists. The unknown pre-paid mobile phones, whose owners are not included on the list of people bugged were activated from 2001 to February 28, 2005, namely four days before Ericsson first realized that there was something suspicious going on with Vodafone’s software. It is worth noticing that three of the bugged pre-paid mobile phones were activated in early 2005 and the conversations of their holders started being bugged shortly after the pre-paid mobiles were connected with the shadow mobiles, something that speaks for the ring’s constant action and alertness. ~snip~ In the meantime, according to Ethnos daily, the Tsalikidis family has asked for the assistance of renowned coroner Michael Baden to clarify Kostas Tsalikidis’ death. The world-class coroner, who has solved many crime riddles, has already received a file with the evidence on the case and he is to answer whether he will undertake Tsalikidis’ postmortem within the week. ~snip~ But this is not the only example of covering up. Vodafone’s CEO Giorgos Koronias also publicly announced that he did not immediately report his discovery that phone-tapping software had been planted in his company’s system due to “reasons of national security.”<hr></blockquote> and here,including news of a new suspicious death and nazi-style death threats: <a href="http://www.greeknewsonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4422">www.greeknewsonline.com/m...e&sid=4422</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> In an interview to newspaper Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia, Vodafone’s CEO, Giorgos Koronias, stressed that no software has been destroyed, while he did not rule out the possibility of significant evidence being found. However, he noted that he removed the surveillance program because "the company had to react immediately." ~snip~ In the meantime, a stir was created with the statements by Computer Science Prof Emmanouil Giannoudakis. In his announcement, he did not rule out the possibility of only telephone conversations being tapped, since he believes that the culprits also control other communication networks, including the Internet. ~snip~ SUSPICIOUS SUICIDE What is more, investigations continue to see if the suicide of Vodafone's 38-year-old executive is linked to the wiretapping scandal. The Attica Police Department is already looking into the deceased's computer and in documents, which he handled. The mobile company on the other hand, stressed any attempt to link the two events is pointless. Authorities are also investigating another brief on the murder of one of Vodafone's employees in September 2003. The employee was found dead in his home after being hit on the head with a bottle. The police had then said it was a crime of passion. Now, the brief is re-examined to see if there is any link to the wiretapping case. In the meantime, the suicide of the 38-year-old took a new turn on Saturday, as one of his childhood friends, Sokratis Liolios, found a handwritten note that said: "Choose a way to die." The note was signed by the "Blood donor" and a swastika was also drawn on it. <hr></blockquote> Vodafone caught in more lies: <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_22/02/2006_66701">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66701</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> New phone-tap evidence raises more questions Watchdog says Vodafone, Ericsson acted against snooping earlier than they admit  Vodafone and Ericsson, the two mobile phone companies at the center of the phone-tapping affair, began installing software to prevent outsiders snooping on phone calls in January last year - two months before Vodafone said it had discovered the wiretaps - it was revealed yesterday. The discovery was made public by representatives of the Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) before a parliamentary committee on transparency yesterday. The telecoms watchdog has undertaken an investigation in connection with the mobile phone taps. Iakovos Venieris, a professor at the National Technical University of Athens and a member of ADAE, explained that the software used to snoop on 114 mobile phones had already existed as part of Vodafone's system to allow legal tapping by authorities. ~snip~ Vodafone says it discovered the spy software on March 7 last year but Venieris said that with the help of Ericsson, which was responsible for the operating software, the mobile telephony company began at the end of January to install upgrades to stop eavesdroppers. This surprised MPs as they were led to believe that Vodafone discovered the spy software in March and shut it down immediately. Venieris told the deputies that it was not clear when the phone tapping began and refused to comment on when the spy software was deactivated. Another member of ADAE, Andreas Lambrinopoulos, prompted further consternation when he refused to answer a question concerning whether the software had been installed at Vodafone or whether someone had hacked into the system from outside the company. «There is an answer but I cannot give it to you at this moment,» said Lambrinopoulos. MPs were also surprised to hear that Ericsson did not upgrade the software at seven of Vodafone's centers, which included the two where the spy software had been activated. Lambrinopoulos also said Vodafone and its CEO Giorgos Koronias were wrong to deactivate the spy software when they discovered it. He said ADAE should have been informed so it could help track down the people who were recording the conversations. Venieris said there was only a remote chance of tracking down anyone based on the copy of the software that had been made by Vodafone.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100011_17/02/2006_66517">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66517</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>More evidence in suicide case The prosecutor investigating the alleged suicide of Costas Tsalikidis will ask experts to examine six notebooks which were kept by the software engineer and were recently handed in by Vodafone, the Tsalikidis family lawyer said yesterday. Themis Sofos said the family had not known about the existence of the notebooks even though Tsalikidis’s brother had visited the mobile telephony company on June 28 last year — some three months after Costas’s death — to collect all of the engineer’s belongings. The notebooks contain a range of technical details recorded by Tsalikidis. One of the pages, however, has a note saying, “If this happens (or fails)... suicide.” At this stage, authorities are not confident that this mention of suicide can be linked to the engineer’s death and are examining the possibility that he may have been using it in a metaphorical sense about a possible project failure.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100012_18/02/2006_66566">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66566</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Suicide probe to finish in 10 days An investigation into the alleged suicide of Costas Tsalikidis is expected to be completed within the month, sources said yesterday, as the government vowed to shed light on the phone-tapping case. Justice Minister Anastassis Papaligouras said that all available information on the phone-tapping incident has already been made public as he responded to criticism over the government’s handling of the affair. “We have the belief that the main investigation will offer the information needed to shed light on those involved and place the blame on the right people,” Papaligouras told Parliament. “I cannot predict the course or the outcome of the investigation,” he added. The minister was responding to claims from opposition parties that the government has known all along who the culprits are but is covering up for them. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis stepped in on the issue earlier this week by announcing broad measures he wants to introduce to protect phone privacy. The Greek press has been having a field day in the last few weeks speculating who is behind the eavesdropping. The Defense Ministry yesterday denied a press report that their phones had been tapped during Greece’s largest annual military exercise in September 2005. Meanwhile, sources told Kathimerini that the investigation into the conditions surrounding Tsalkidis’s alleged suicide will be completed in 10 days.<hr></blockquote>

by **Gouda** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:57 pm

Just an aside on vodaphone, hot off the press. No mention of problems in Greece, but perhaps this is deliberate to a) avoid enron-type pitfalls, and/or b) divert investor attention from the greece situation. Timing. <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/02/27/vodafone.overvalued.ap/index.html">edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSI...index.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Vodafone says $40-49B overvalued - Shares down as phone giant takes impairment charge Monday, February 27, 2006 Posted: 1538 GMT (2338 HKT) LONDON, England (AP) -- Vodafone Group warned Monday that its assets are overvalued by as much as Â£28 billion ($49B) and it faces a slowdown in revenue growth. Shares in the mobile phone giant fell 2.6 percent to 114 pence ($1.9<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> after it said it would take an impairment charge of between Â£23 billion ($40.2B) and Â£28 billion pounds ($49B). The bill comes mainly from its German operations following the company's takeover of rival Mannesmann in 2000, but the company said that operations in Italy and possibly Japan are also overvalued. Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company by revenues, said that increasing competition would result in revenue growth slowing to 5 percent to 6.5 percent in the year to March 2007, compared to forecasts of 6 percent to 9 percent for 2006. Vodafone said that it was issuing the profit warning -- its third in four months -- against "intensifying competition and pricing pressures" in several of its key markets, including Europe. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, are now expected to fall by 1 percent in 2007, the company said. This year would be unaffected, it added. Investec Securities said the guidance was weaker than expected. "The industry news remains dire and the brief outlook given here for 2007 is worse than we had hoped," Investec said. As well as competitive market conditions, Vodafone blamed the warning on tougher regulation which has led to mobile companies reducing the amount they charge each other and landline businesses for putting callers through to their customers. Vodafone is already under pressure to counter investor concerns about the wisdom of keeping its struggling business in Japan and a minority stake in Verizon Wireless in the United States. Analysts believe an exit from the United States would leave Vodafone better placed to drive growth in Europe and Asia as markets become more competitive and pressure grows to generate extra revenues from each customer.<hr></blockquote>

by **hmm** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:51 am

Its bugging me that i cant find anything on the "crime of passion" "hit on the head with a bottle". I have the feeling i remember this event being reported at the time but cant find any mention, nothing new on the nazi-style death threats recieved by the "suicided" engineer either.. anyways,updates.. former U.S. diplomat John Brady Kiesling wrote a article in The Nation which seems to be causing quite a stir in Greece, he used to be the ambassador to Greece in 2003 among other things and he resigned in december 2003 over the Iraq war. It is one thing us speculating about cia involvement,its another when former diplomats speculate in respected publications <a href="http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=4018082&maindocimg=2993335&service=100">www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/sh...ervice=100</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> The spokesman was replying to questions about an article in the Greek daily "Eleftherotypia" - which in turn cited an article written by former U.S. diplomat John Brady Kiesling in the American political review "The Nation". According to Kiesling, the illegal phone-taps have all the hallmarks of a CIA operation, while he surmises that U.S. Ambassador to Greece Tom Miller was forced to go along with what was presented as a covert operation to prevent terrorism. At another point, Kiesling also suggests that the Greek government knows who was responsible but is not anxious to trigger an open rift with Washington. The government spokesman, on his part, said that there was no need for the Greek government to take a position concerning Kiesling's article, given that "the American diplomat in question was not an employee of the Greek government."<hr></blockquote> he made some interesting comments in the article from The Nation: <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060320/kiesling">www.thenation.com/doc/20060320/kiesling</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> The intercepted calls were forwarded from four cellular antennas. Their coverage circles overlapped atop the US Embassy. The list of victims was also damning. Anyone might eavesdrop on a defense minister, but only one organization still cares about the electrician whose brother-in-law was implicated in the 1975 murder of CIA station chief Richard Welch by the terrorist group called 17 November. One telephone was listed to an inconspicuous Greek-American at the US Embassy. Journalists learned the phone had been lent to the embassy's Greek police security detail. ~snip~ The Greek justice minister sensibly reminded everyone that this could be a provokatsia. British and Israeli security interests resemble America's. Perhaps Mossad had maliciously designed its eavesdropping to incriminate the United States if discovered. For many Greeks, however, the list--Olympics security officials, senior bureaucrats, journalists, Middle Easterners and radical leftists--looked like a snapshot of US intelligence preoccupations during the 2004 Olympics. The Greek government has no desire to help Greece's rivals by harming the US-Greek relationship. Greek officials are adult enough not to take eavesdropping personally. They rely, however, on the eavesdroppers being artful enough not to get caught. In espionage scandals it is the victim who gets punished. Failure to preserve the national dignity against foreigners is a hanging offense in every political system in the world. ~snip~ The current scandal has a sordid side. Greece bankrupted itself to host a successful Olympiad, including spending $1.2 billion on security. The list of potential terrorists the scandal made public was too threadbare to justify even a fraction of that outlay. By bugging more Greek Olympics security officials than local radicals, the eavesdroppers fueled unworthy speculation that they were less concerned for the safety of athletes and spectators than for the fortunes of SAIC, Beltway bandits about to default on a major Olympics security contract.<hr></blockquote> This is his letter of resignation over the Iraq war: <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0227-13.htm">www.commondreams.org/views03/0227-13.htm</a> more details on the "suicide" <a href="http://www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=3930687&maindocimg=2948700&service=100">www.ana.gr/anaweb/user/sh...ervice=100</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> According to the lawyer acting on behalf of Tsalikidis' family Themistokles Sofos, the new evidence showed that the last person to speak with Tsalikidis before he was found dead on March 9, 2005 was not his fiancee Sara Galanopoulou, as previously believed. Analysis of the dead man's mobile phone software showed that he also spoke with a person who has not yet been identified on the phone at 11:15 on the night of March 8, 2005 and that he had previously received a call that probably came from a Vodafone telephone. After the conversation at 11:15, there were two more calls to Tsalikidis' phone that he did not answer.<hr></blockquote> A bomb hoax at Vodafone, angry customers?anarchists?or did someone need to remove some evidence? <a href="http://www.hri.org/news/greek/ana/2006/06-03-01.ana.html#29">www.hri.org/news/greek/an...na.html#29</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Bomb hoax at Vodafone company ATHENS, 01.03.2006 (ANA) A phone call on the planting of a bomb in the building housing the Vodafone mobile phone operator in the Athens suburb of Halandri alerted police on Tuesday night and resulted in Ethnikis Antistaseos street in the suburb remaining closed for about three hours. Shortly before 7 in the evening, an unidentified caller notified the MEGA television channel that a bomb was going to explode at Vodafone's building in Halandri, without mentioning the undertaking of responsibility by any group. The caller said that the bomb would explode in five minutes. Police cordoned off the area immediately, traffic was stopped in Ethnikis Antistaseos street and the building was evacuated. After about 50 minutes past and no explosion occurred, bomb disposal experts together with sniffer dogs scoured the building without finding anything suspicious and revealing that the phone call had been a hoax. Ethnikis Antistaseos street was opened to traffic at about 10 p.m. and police forces left the area. <hr></blockquote> From a greek crime blog,who profits? <a href="http://phylax.blogs.com/phylax/2006/02/oneclick_politi.html">phylax.blogs.com/phylax/2...oliti.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>The number one beneficiary of political instability in this country is that sticky glob of business bosses we have come to identify collectively as the "intertwined interests" (diaplekomena symferonta). Names like Kokkalis, Latsis, Lambrakis, Vardinoyiannis, Sarantopoulos, Bobolas, and others may say little to an outsider, but sing a convoluted song of usurpation of power and corruption to all but the most naive and disconnected Greek ears. A weak, threatened, and confused political system is mana from heaven for the sticky glob, whose primary purpose for breathing is to amass personal wealth at the expense of the country's present and future welfare.<hr></blockquote> Not sure what this means, but, the prosecuter in the suicide of the engineer was replaced as supervising prosecutor for anti-terrorism, one of his tasks was investigating the same "urban terror gang" that was one of the subjects of this phone tap scandal <a href="http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office=4&folder=563&article=13279">www.greekembassy.org/Emba...icle=13279</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>New supervising prosecutor for anti-terrorism service announced Athens, 7/4/2004 (ANA) Greece’s Supreme Civil and Criminal Judicial Council has selected top first instance court prosecutor Dimitris Asprogerakas as the new chief prosecutor/supervisor of Greek Police’s (EL.AS) anti-terrorism service. Asprogerakas will replace Yiannis Diotis at the post. The latter’s term was not renewed, while the former will serve for a two-term. Asprogerakas was born in 1956. He entered the judiciary in 1984 and achieved the rank of first instance court prosecutor in 1997. Amongst his most high-profile cases is a recent probe into the legality of certain defense ministry procurements (i.e. Russian anti-aircraft missiles and ordnance contracts with state-run PYRCAL). Diotis achieved local and international recognition for his role over the past two years in bringing to justice members of the notorious “November 17” urban terror gang.<hr></blockquote> Time to raise a fist? This is how one of the groups under surveilance responded <a href="http://www.resistance2003.gr/en/news/story.php?id=93">www.resistance2003.gr/en/....php?id=93</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Protest and direct action in Salonika against the local and global "Big Brother" February 13, 2006, Thessaloniki The surveillance scandal which was "revealed" in Greece is actually nothing new. The new fact is that it is coming to confirm with the most loud way that the "Big Brother", the surveillance police state society in other words, consists a necessary condition and not an error of the global established regime. ~snip~ In the list of the tapped phones there were the names of four comrades from the Antiauthoritarian Movement: Grigoris Tsilimantos, Argiris Mouratidis, Attila Ihtiar and Marina Meintani (who used to be a member of the antiauthoritarian newspaper "Babylonia"). We have already expressed our opinion about this case on a previous communiquι which you can see here. Last Thursday 9/02/2006 a demonstration was called by trade unions, political and social organisations, against surveillances and "Big Brother" type of society. We participated by forming a block in this demonstration. <hr></blockquote> the article has two scans that show the locations of the antenna used for the surveillance: <img src="http://www.resistance2003.gr/images/content/mavili01.png" style="border:0;"/> <img src="http://www.resistance2003.gr/images/content/mavili02.png" style="border:0;"/> indymedia has some photo's from the protest: http://athens.indymedia.org/display.php?articleId=8148 Now for some more technical details and rumours. Rough translations of government press conferences: http://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/~gdanezis/intercept.html "radical" cyberliberties group quintessenz publishes details of Ericsson's surveilance system, including a manual.. http://www.quintessenz.org/cgi-bin/index?id=000100002344 the manual: http://www.quintessenz.org/doqs/000100003497/IMS_USER_MANUAL.pdf the rumour,which basically says that Ericsson has created "hacked" versions of standard operating system programs that allow "backdoor" access to its machines and that fewer than 10 people in Vodafone and Ericsson would have access to the surveilance system (less than 10 know of the surveilance system access,not the hacked "backdoor" which seems seperate) http://betabug.ch/blogs/ch-athens/312 <blockquote>Quote:<hr>the paper "Ta Nea" writes that at Vodafone and Ericsson together "not more than 10 people had access" to the surveillance systems (article in Greek)<hr></blockquote>

by **antiaristo** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:54 pm

Vodafone has now been caught involved in crimes in TWO foreign countries - Spain and Greece. That has to make other foreign governments just a wee bit nervous, don't you think? <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Gent angers Vodafone directors By Susie Mesure Published: 06 March 2006 Vodafone's non-executive directors have expressed fury over revelations that Sir Christopher Gent, the former chief executive, has attempted to meddle in boardroom affairs. Sir Christopher stood down as an executive director almost three years ago, but his influence still looms large in the company he built up into a global mobile network operator over 18 years. Last summer, he attempted to install two allies on the board, proposing a new finance director and non-executive director despite having no say in such matters, it emerged yesterday. Frustrated that his suggestions, who included Scott Mead, the former Goldman Sachs banker, as a potential independent director, were knocked back, Sir Christopher decided to vote against the re-election of his successor, Arun Sarin. He later changed his mind, but infuriated the company's non-executive directors in the process. Industry sources said Sir Christopher could be forced to re-think his position as life president of the telecoms giant. Meanwhile, pressure is piling on Mr Sarin, who is unpopular with some of the company's biggest shareholders. Former Vodafone directors are believed to be behind a whispering campaign against Mr Sarin, who has faced calls to resign from some investors. Mr Sarin began unpicking Sir Christopher's legacy on Friday, when Vodafone announced it was in talks to sell a controlling stake in its underperforming Japanese business. It is believed Vodafone intends to exit the crucial Japanese market entirely. Softbank, Japan's leading broadband supplier, is taking Vodafone Japan off the UK company's hands. Vodafone is tipped to hand the proceeds of the eventual sale, which could be up to £8bn, back to shareholders via a special dividend.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article349571.ece">news.independent.co.uk/bu...349571.ece</a>

by **antiaristo** » Sun Mar 12, 2006 1:26 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Wrong signals over Greek phone-tapping scandal 'Who is Big Brother?' politicians are asking as Vodafone struggles to exonerate the firm from Greece's 'Watergate'. Helena Smith reports from Athens Sunday March 12, 2006 The Observer If Vodafone's top brass think their corporate woes are trouble enough, they should look at their Greek subsidiary and think again. Not since the mobile phone giant's foundation has it been so buffeted by allegations of skullduggery as it has in Athens in recent weeks. On Friday - as George Koronias, Vodafone Greece's CEO, sat before a parliamentary committee to explain his firm's role in an operation to eavesdrop on the country's political and military elite - the scandal had not only begun to resemble the plot of a John Le Carré novel but also assume Olympian proportions. Worse still - and despite giving testimony for more than 10 hours - Koronias failed to convince the committee that the UK-based operator bore no responsibility for Greece's biggest spy scandal. The country's government last month announced, to general surprise, that Vodafone's facilities had been used by 'persons unknown' to tap calls from before the 2004 Athens Olympics to March 2005. Among the 160-odd people whose conversations were listened to were Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, several of his cabinet ministers, the heads of the armed forces and Olympic security officials. Koronias denied that Vodafone had the technical know-how to install the spy software and laid the blame at the door of Ericsson. As manufacturer of Vodafone's telecom infrastructure, including legal interception software, the Swedish company would have been able to install illicit bugging devices into the system, he claimed. 'Only Ericsson's staff could have set up such a device,' he said. Ericsson furiously countered that Vodafone not only knew about the illegal software but had activated it at the request of British intelligence agents. Then, as if reading from a manual on how to commit commercial suicide, the CEO told the committee it was feasible that all Vodafone's communications centres had been decked out with wiretaps prior to the Games. He also admitted that Kostas Tsalikides, a top technician at the company - found dead a day after Vodafone reported the wiretaps to the government last March - may have stumbled across the high-tech surveillance devices. His death, the focus of a judicial probe, is now seen as key to solving the mystery of the 'Greek Watergate'. 'Tsalikides could, in his position at the company [as network planning manager] have located the illegal software,' Koronias conceded. His confessions came as Vodafone Greece also came under fire from the government. Last week, the ruling New Democrats accused the company of being economical with the truth. The public criticism followed claims by the country's independent security watchdog (ADAE) that Vodafone had failed to inform the authorities that three of its communications hubs - and not two as reported - were bugged. Some 67 portable phones are believed to have been monitored by the third station. 'When [Koronias] reported the case [to the government], the crucial issue that there was a third surveillance point was not mentioned, whatever this may say about his credibility and the ulterior motives behind the move,' said deputy government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros. ADAE, which released the findings of its investigation into the affair last Wednesday, claimed the snoopers not only had access to Vodafone's communications centres, but had frequently serviced the surveillance systems. Inexplicably, it said, Koronias had failed to alert the watchdog when the listening devices were discovered. Then, even more mysteriously, he dismantled the taps making it impossible to trace the eavesdroppers. Greeks have been gripped and appalled by the revelations, with the conservatives' popularity ratings taking a heavy blow. Polls show around 67 per cent personally blame Prime Minister Karamanlis for his handling of the affair. 'Who is Big Brother?' said Alekos Alavanos, who heads the Left Coalition party. 'Everyone smells a cover-up.' Because the antennae that relayed the calls to the recording equipment were close to the US embassy, many believe 'Big Brother' is the CIA. Koronias appeared to confirm those suspicions, telling the parliamentary committee that the surveillance system required people with expertise in a number of hi-tech areas 'as well as plenty of money'. More tellingly, the US embassy's former political counsellor, John Brady Kiesling, also pointed the finger at Washington. The CIA's fingerprints were all over operation, he said. 'Everything points to the US embassy,' said Kiesling, who left the State Department in disgust over the Iraq war. 'Nobody else would have, or be interested in, a list [of people tapped] that would look like that.'<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1728795,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/b...95,00.html</a>

by **antiaristo** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:55 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Nokiaphobia: the fear of Greeks bearing phones Helena Smith in Athens Sunday March 26, 2006 The Observer A new phobia has exploded among mobile phone users in Greece. The 'fear of fear' has been brought on by revelations of eavesdropping at Vodafone, the country's biggest mobile operator, say psychoanalysts reporting a boom in patients. Greeks, anxious their phones may have been tapped by bosses or spouses, have sought medical help. 'The afflicted show all the signs of a classic phobia,' said Dr Dimitris Souras, an Athenian psychotherapist. 'I have had at least 25 people, of all ages, displaying what I can only call a "fear of fear", that is fear of their own fear that their private conversations may have been monitored.' All had complained of anxiety, sleep disorders, irritability and an inability to function properly. 'There is no doubt in my mind that this is connected to what we now know: that in Greece mobile phones are not safe,' said Dr Souras who includes the phobia in his latest book. This is the latest bizarre twist to revelations that Greece's political and military elite were listened into by 'persons unknown' for nearly a year before and after the 2004 Olympic Games. Evidence that the operation was much larger than first thought - insiders believe thousands may have been monitored - has fed conspiracy theories. With Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and most of his cabinet on the 'hit list,' rumours abound that the ruling Conservatives, whose popularity ratings have nosedived, may be forced to call early elections because of disgruntlement with their handling of the matter. Polls show about 65 per cent of Greeks blame Karamanlis for the imbroglio. Scepticism with the official account has been reinforced by the decision to disclose investigations almost a year after the eavesdropping devices were found in Vodafone's central computer system.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1739763,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/w...63,00.html</a>

by **hmm** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:12 pm

The greeks seem to have understood one of the lessons of this scandal. fear of something real is not a fobia.. The idea of being implanted with a location device would scare most people? These same people gladly carry a location device when it is marketed as a communication device aka a mobile phone. by tracking Imei numbers across cells (area covered by tower) authorities can monitor where one goes and who one meets.This can be done without you placing a call as your phone constantly queries available towers to ensure optimal signal quality. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imei">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imei</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>The International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is a number unique to every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. It is usually found printed on or underneath the phone's battery and can also be found by dialling the sequence *#06# into the phone. The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "bar" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless, regardless of whether the phone's SIM is changed. Unlike the ESN of CDMA and other wireless networks, the IMEI is only used to identify the device, and has no permanent or semi-permanent relation to the subscriber. Instead, the subscriber is identified by transmission of an IMSI number, which is stored on a SIM card which can (in theory) be transferred to any handset.<hr></blockquote>

by **havanagilla** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:12 am

I wonder if anyone knows whether the signal exists even if the phone is turned off, or when I pull the battery out altogether ? -- One way of "fooling" this system is to buy 3-4 or more SIM cards (you can replace them easily in the lower part of the cell phone), and make sure to change them often OR when you speak to someone you don't want to trace you, confuse them. I know women who are hiding from crazed stalking husbands are encouraged to carry several SIM numbers and change them randomly when they are going somewhere out of the shelter.

by **hmm** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:24 am

i do know that without the battery the signal does not exist. Changing SIM does help confuse, but only that. This is due to the phone still having this unique imei number. One would have to switch off the phone,change location,activate a different phone with a different SIM, and not call anyone with the new phone that you had ever called with the old one. This is not very practical.. having said that i must also say that for someone traveling alone this feature could save your life. Police have found people after an accident in a remote location or a mugging due to the victim having a cell phone.

by **antiaristo** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:43 pm

apologies, hmm, a slight diversion. European football fans will be aware that Liverpool FC is being sold to a private consortium. The man leading that consortium was named on Spanish television tonight. It is Juan Villalonga. That is the same Juan Villalonga whose actions are described in The Perfect Crime. The second post in this thread.

by **antiaristo** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 5:41 am

hmm, Some developments. <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Leaked report brings calls for Vodafone prosecution Helena Smith in Athens Wednesday April 12, 2006 The Guardian Calls mounted yesterday for criminal charges to be brought against Vodafone in Greece after a highly incriminating assessment of the company's role in the espionage scandal shaking the country was leaked to the press. Prompted by the findings of a report by Greece's independent telecoms watchdog, ADAE, the senior MP also investigating the affair said the mobile phone group should be "prosecuted immediately". "Based on the evidence that we have seen today, a prosecutor should immediately press charges against George Koronias [Vodafone's chief executive in Greece]," said Anastassios Karamarios, a member of the ruling conservative party, after receiving the 27-page report. Among the watchdog's claims was that Vodafone employees had manipulated software to snoop on Greek political and military leaders including the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis. Most of the monitoring was before the August 2004 Olympic Games, but continued to March 9 last year, when the wiretaps were detected in the firm's computer systems. Although Mr Koronias reported the discovery to the government the next day, he also ordered the taps to be dismantled before the interceptors could be traced. ADAE revealed that Costas Tsalikides, the Vodafone network planning manager who was found hanged a day after the discovery of the wiretaps, had personally taken receipt of software that enabled legally sanctioned surveillance. Testifying before the investigating parliamentary committee, Mr Koronias denied the firm had either taken stock or installed such equipment. Vodafone yesterday described the ADAE report as distorted and untrue. "We have discovered a number of mistakes ... selective reference to individuals and data quotation, even false dates," it said.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1751962,00.html">business.guardian.co.uk/s...62,00.html</a> Greatly to the credit of the Greek people they are really going after Vodafone. No surprises in what we are finding, which pretty much conform to what we outlined at the beginning. They also had the great good sense to send Costantine packing when he tried to resuscitate the monarchy. Unfortunately Vodafone will not be pursued here in Spain for the billions they stole and laundered. Constantine's sister Sophia is queen (and a diligent attender at Bilderberg)

by **hmm** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:27 am

there is alot of fingerpointing going on with vodafoon and ericsson blaming eachother for the software. but it is not only vodafoon that has alot of explaining to do, the greek governments feigned innocence is wearing thin.. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4881668.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4881668.stm</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Greek aide quizzed in spy probe By Richard Galpin BBC News, Athens The Greek prime minister's chief of staff has been cross-examined by a parliamentary committee probing a spy scandal that has gripped the nation. ~snip~ The prime minister's chief of staff, Yiannis Angelou, gave little away in three hours of testimony. He said his role had only been to assess the seriousness of the situation and then to inform the prime minister immediately. When asked who was behind the operation, he answered: "Justice will tell". But he did confirm that Vodafone requested to meet him just hours after a senior Vodafone network manager was found hanged in his apartment in Athens<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.hri.org/news/greek/eraen/2006/06-04-08.eraen.html#03">www.hri.org/news/greek/er...en.html#03</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> In addition, irrespective of whether the software was placed by an employee of Vodafone or Ericsson or a third party, the ADAE considers that Vodafone had not protected its technical facilities adequately. More Centres Bugged The report notes that the bugged centre in Peania was extremely crucial. Furthermore, the three centres discovered by Ericsson and the fourth on Pireos Street discovered by Vodafone may not be the only ones. In addition, there might have been more than three, maybe four or five, antennae in the Mavili triangle. <hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.hri.org/news/greek/ana/2006/06-04-07.ana.html#08">www.hri.org/news/greek/an...na.html#08</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr> Ruling New Democracy MP Christos Zois left the room before Koronias and Zikos finished testifying, saying that the situation resembled "a theatre of the absurd". "The non-answers, the conflicting testimony and the gaps constitute enough material that can be referred to other authorities [for investigation]," he said. The point of conflict concerns part of the software package Vodafone purchased from Ericsson which can be used for legal monitoring of conversations. Vodafone's Koronias claims that the company never ordered, received nor knew of the specific feature. Ericsson's Zikou, on the other hand, claims that the feature is a standard part of the software package Vodafone bought - P 9.1 - and is described in the product's manual. ~snip~ Coalition of the Radical Left (SRA) Fotis Kouvelis wondered whether "there was an informal agreement [between the two companies] whereby Ericsson delivered the software but Vodafone did not order it, bringing us to where we are today." Koronias vehemently denied that possibility while Zikou said that "as far as I know, there was no such agreement." Main opposition PASOK MP Miltiadis Papaioannou questioned Koronias' claim of ignorance about the software saying that in May 2004 Greek and British police had visited Vodafone's offices asking the mobile phone operator to 'unlock' the software in order to use it for legal monitoring. In June 2004, a representative of the mobile phone operator TIM Hellas said that such software existed. Koronias replied that while the police had made a request to monitor conversations, Vodafone's legal department refused their request. <hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_10/03/2006_67305">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_67305</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Koronias: I knew nothing Vodafone CEO denies knowledge of surveillance software, points at Ericsson Vodafone Greece CEO Giorgos Koronias yesterday denied all knowledge of the existence of software allowing the interception of mobile phone calls in his company’s network and directed all inquiries to the software supplier, Sweden-based company Ericsson, at a six-hour grilling by members of the Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee. “It was a very complex system, because it was invisible to detection. It functioned independently of whether the lawful interception system was activated and bypassed the security alarm. We are talking about very advanced technology, which our people do not have,” Koronias told skeptical MPs. On the other hand, when asked directly if Ericsson was to blame for the surveillance of 103 mobile phones, including the prime minister’s, Koronias replied that he does not pronounce Ericsson guilty, but added that it is that company which operated the network’s central processing unit and the lawful interception software. Koronias claims that he had no knowledge of even Ericsson’s lawful software, which was used by whoever listened in on conversations for unlawful purposes when it was installed on November 10, 2002. He was not informed until March 4, 2005, he says ~snip~ “The revelation of the case (to the government) by the (Vodafone) CEO was missing the crucial element of a third point of (illicit) surveillance, whatever this may mean about his credibility and the ulterior motives behind this move,” said deputy government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_27/03/2006_67899">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_67899</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>The Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) submitted a 14-page memorandum to Premier Costas Karamanlis last month asking that the National Intelligence Agency (EYP) and the anti-terrorism squad be given a clear indication of the boundaries within which they can operate in “the field of communications.” This comment suggests that secret agents have essentially been free to act as they please.<hr></blockquote>

by **antiaristo** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:39 am

hmm, How come when I post on this thread you've always got three ready to come back? Are you deliberately waiting to ambush me?<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"> <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"> Interesting juxtaposition there <blockquote>Quote:<hr>that in May 2004 Greek and British police had visited Vodafone's offices asking the mobile phone operator to 'unlock' the software<hr></blockquote> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>secret agents have essentially been free to act as they please.<hr></blockquote> Mrs Windsor, at it again.

by **hmm** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:48 pm

hehe,its more like you remind me that i have been slacking and should of updated earlier <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":p"> this reminds me of 9/11 in a way, its the subversion of existing mechanisms of state that reveals so much..

Greek governments phones taped for over a year

Re: Vodafone's Greek tragedy: Act II

Re:Greek tragedy: Act II, business as usual?cue death nr.2

Re: Re:Greek tragedy: Act II, business as usual?cue death nr

Re: updates, still looking for information on the other murd

Vodafone - "To Globalize or not to Globalize? - TITQ

This is blowing up...

Still Rumbling

Re: Still Rumbling "fear of fear"

Re: Still Rumbling "fear of fear"

Re: Still Rumbling "fear of fear"

Heads up for football fans

The Greek Democracy

Re: The Greek Democracy

More British Subversion

Re: More British Subversion

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