Greek governments phones taped for over a year

by **hmm** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:06 am

<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/greek-pms-phone-tapped-for-a-year/2006/02/03/1138836412940.html">www.smh.com.au/news/world...12940.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Greek PM's phone tapped for a year February 3, 2006 - 2:51PM The mobile phones of Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and top government and security officials were tapped by unknown individuals during the Athens 2004 Olympics and for nearly a year, the government said. "The people (under surveillance) included the prime minister himself and other members of the government," government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos told a news conference. The list of about 100 people whose telephones were tapped included the ministers of foreign affairs, defence, public order and justice. Most of Greece's top military and police officers were also targeted, as were foreign ministry officials, a US Embassy number and the Prime Minister's wife, Natasha. ~snip~ "It was an unknown individual, or individuals, who used high technology," he said. Roussopoulos said the surveillance was carried out through spy software installed in the central system of Vodafone, the mobile telephony provider that served the targets. Calls were then diverted to mobile phones using pay-as-you-go services, which are difficult to trace. An investigation showed that these mobiles had been used in a central Athens area where many foreign embassies are located, the ministers said.<hr></blockquote> neat little graphic showing the connections between those tapped: <img src="http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/03/greekphones_narrowweb__300x381,0.jpg" style="border:0;"/> What is especially interesting in this case of tapping is that software seems to have been installed and used on vodaphone's system to tap into the phone network (as opposed to more usual and trivial physical tapping) and it reminds me of a "famous" hacker case of a few years back... It was a incredible case in which 3 blind palestinian kids ran rings around the Israeli security services,they where running their own telco using the armies phone system. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/phreaks.html <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Three Blind Phreaks How the phone-phreaking Badir brothers ran rings around Israel's telcos for six scam-filled years. ~snip~ Israeli authorities agree. The 44 charges leveled against Ramy, Muzher, and Shadde Badir in 1999 included telecommunications fraud, theft of computer data, and impersonation of a police officer. The brothers' six-year spree of hacking into phone systems and hijacking telephone time ended when they were convicted of stealing credit card numbers and breaking into the Israeli army radio station's telephone system to set up an illicit phone company. Unwitting customers - mostly Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza Strip - paid the fake telco for long distance calls that were billed to the radio station. A lawyer close to the case said that the Badirs' scams pulled in more than $2 million.<hr></blockquote>

by **antiaristo** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:11 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>What is especially interesting in this case of tapping is that software seems to have been installed and used on vodaphone's system to tap into the phone network (as opposed to more usual and trivial physical tapping)<hr></blockquote> I don't know. Is hacking the same as installing software on the system? The latter sounds like something that would require the complicity of the telco provider. Kinda like Promis? Let's see. Vodaphone. Yup, British. I've no special knowledge about Vodaphone, but I do know they were party to the fraud carried out against the taxpayers of Spain some six years ago. I wrote something and circulated same in May 2003. With your indulgence, hmm, I'll post it here. Please let me know if you object, in which case I will remove it. <blockquote>Quote:<hr> THE PERFECT CRIME The perfect crime is the invisible crime. What have the crimes at Telefonica, Lloyds of London, and Anglia Television got in common? You did not know there had been such crimes until I told you. They are invisible crimes. When you read “Mary Archer’s Fraud” you will see the Anglia Television crime. When you read David McClintick’s brave piece (Time Magazine, Atlantic, February 21, 2000) you will see the Lloyds of London crime. What was the Telefonica crime? I hear you ask. About 500,000,000,000 pesetas. Borbon’s Freemasons are raping your country. One of the ways you can tell Masons are at work is when something that should, fails to happen. The dog does not bark. That is exactly what happened about three years ago with the award of the Third Generation Mobile licenses. Across Europe comparable licenses were fetching €2 to 6 billion at auction. But Spain gave away these valuable assets for virtually nothing to old Mason friends of the king. Where was the opposition? Jose Borrell was knifed and Jesus de Polanco silenced so that this crime could take place. For make no mistake, this is where the crime took place, with the full and active connivance of PSOE Madrid. Theft from the “Sovereign” people. Everything from this point on is aimed at recovering the spoils. 1 Private deal between Villalonga and Borbon’s representative (Aznar?) as to the value of the stolen license, based on what the market decides in other European countries. 2 Over the following six months it becomes clear to all that the prices paid were far too high. The Italian auction collapses and must be deferred. Villalonga does not want to pay the agreed price. He wants to renegotiate. 3 Borbon wields his power – the Golden Share (Accion de Oro) 4 Villalonga seeks protection from another Freemason (Jordi Pujol). Tries to relocate Telefonica HQ from Madrid to Barcelona. 5 Borbon re-opens CNMV inquiry into insider trading by Villalonga. The inquiry had been definitively closed. But Borbon is above all that. 6 Villalonga capitulates. Pays a ridiculous price for a foreign TV production company with no assets (a shell). Demands (and gets) a payoff amounting to €40 millions. Moves to Miami, marries a beauty queen and lives the American Dream. POSTSCRIPT I watched the funeral service for those Spanish soldiers who lost their lives far from home. Can I draw your attention to a contemporaneous event that concerns the stars of the performance? Having stolen perhaps €3 billions through Telefonica, and up to three times as much in aggregate, Borbon then gave free rein to his sadistic streak. He proceeded to defecate on the Telefonica/Sintel workforce, just as the Windsors defecated on myself and 176 others at Anglia Television. As the Windsors used a fake director, the Borbons used a fake legal entity, a mere shell called Sintel. The Borbons care not a jot for the ordinary folk of this country. I lost my own family, so I feel the losses of those service families. But I am also sensitive to the criminally inflicted suffering being endured by the Telefonica/Sintel families. Suffering which is inflicted by that same family of criminals that parade their humanity and compassion on prime time television. At first they came for Sintel, but I did nothing because I am not Sintel….<hr></blockquote> The "old Mason friends of the King" were Vodaphone (Vodafone in Spain) and the then subsidiary of British Telecom. Same as it ever was.

by **havanagila** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:08 pm

Don't know whose behind what, but sure enough those who use PROMIS like software ALSO hooked it to the phone systems, cellular and land, of their targets. that's a given, in order to get a full picture of the content coming from the computers they hacked. I wonder how come this is rarely mentioned in all the literature on PROMIS and computer spying. Since the computers are operated by either cable, mobile, phone lines, its easy to figure out a way to use the same data mining/online analysis on the communication. Verbals communication can now be transformed to signals, with good accuracy (hi tech for blind people etc.). Certainly, driving people nuts via internet/phone stalking was done by PC/Phone simultaneously. At least in Israel, the major cell companies are employing mostly intel seniors. The fact that every Israeli carries at least one cell phone with "third generation" features (camera), makes it ideal spying tool (spying with, and spying against users). Also, satelite and other non cable technology is already in USE for tracking cell phones. ---

by **antiaristo** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 7:17 pm

This sheds a little more light... <blockquote>Quote:<hr>"Greek Watergate" scandal sends political shockwaves Fri Feb 3, 2006 1:56 PM GMT By Dina Kyriakidou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece reeled on Friday from revelations that unknown eavesdroppers listened in on the prime minister and other top officials for months in a scandal the press dubbed the "Greek Watergate". Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and the foreign, defence and public order ministers were among about 100 people whose mobile phones were tapped for months around the time of the 2004 Athens Olympics, the conservative government said on Thursday. Opposition parties reacted angrily, saying the government was unable to defend national security or citizen's rights and demanded a deeper investigation into the affair, which was handed to a public prosecutor for possible espionage charges. "This is the tip of the iceberg of the lack of transparency and decay," said Socialist opposition leader George Papandreou. The Greek media raised questions about the handling of the case. "Questions and half truths" said the daily To Vima in a front page headline, echoing most other Greek dailies, which said the government's investigation had shed little light. On Thursday, the government said illegal software installed at Greece's second biggest mobile phone operator, Vodafone Greece, allowed calls to and from scores of mobile phones to be recorded from June 2004 until March 2005. Most of the wiretaps took place around the August 2004 Athens Olympics -- the most guarded Games in history with a 1.2 billion euro ($1.45 billion) security budget. They stopped when Vodafone Greece, a subsidiary of British firm Vodafone, discovered the incident and reported it to authorities. Greek officials said that by shutting down the illegal software, Vodafone made it impossible to trace the taps. They also revealed that the calls were being relayed to unknown destinations via four mobile phone antennas in a zone in the centre of Athens that includes the U.S. embassy. The list of those tapped included mainly government officials involved in national security, journalists, peace activists and people of Arab descent. One mobile phone belonged to the U.S. embassy, which has declined to comment on the case. The government defended its response, saying it had done everything in its power to uncover the case. "The government handled an issue of the highest national security in an impeccable way," said Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2006-02-">today.reuters.co.uk/news/...D=2006-02-</a> Just as I thought. Nothing to do with hackers.

by **havanagila** » Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:08 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>said Public Order Minister George vulgar-akis<hr></blockquote> ? a real name ?

by **antiaristo** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 8:26 am

havanagila, Not sure what you mean by that. Is it a pun? If so it went right over my ignorant head! A few more details today <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Among those who had their mobile conversations listened in on are the country's most prominent politicians, top military and police officials, several Arab businessmen, the Athens mayor and journalists. A number at the US embassy was also tapped. What has further angered Greeks was the admission that it was not the government that discovered the surveillance system but Vodafone, the mobile phone company, whose software was hacked into to set up the tap. The Public Order Minister, Giorgos Voulgarakis, told a news conference: "Had it not been for the check it is very conceivable the wiretaps would have continued." He said the eavesdropping was made possible when spy software installed in the provider's central offices diverted calls to an array of mobile phones acting as interceptors. SNIP The daily newspaper Ta Nea, which originally broke the story on Friday, was one of the many publications asking why Vodafone Greece, a subsidiary of the British firm Vodafone, shut down the illegal software as soon as it was discovered, instead of reporting it to the authorities and waiting for further instructions. This shutting down of the operation has made it impossible for the authorities to trace the taps.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article343092.ece">news.independent.co.uk/eu...343092.ece</a> Once again, the dog that didn't bark. How many false-flag operations have run their course so as to "allow further information gathering"? From WTC 1 through to A Q Khan and Brewster-Jennings. If the Greeks were serious they would hammer Vodafone for deliberate destruction of evidence. But they're not serious, are they?

by **antiaristo** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 7:05 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Suicide adds to phone-tap mystery Helena Smith in Athens Sunday February 5, 2006 The Observer The suicide of a Greek telecommunications expert added to the murkiness yesterday surrounding the explosive revelations that eavesdroppers listened in on Greece's entire political and military elite, including the Prime Minister, for almost a year. The death of Kostas Tsalikides, 39, who took his own life last March, a day after the discovery of sophisticated spy software at the mobile telephone operator Vodafone, has deepened the mystery of how 100 portable phones, belonging to senior officials, were tapped in the run-up to the Athens Olympic Games. By hanging himself from his loft, the British-trained technician may have taken the secrets of Greece's Watergate to his grave. 'His suicide conceals many unanswered questions,' wrote Ta Nea, the newspaper that broke the story last week. The extraordinary timing of the death, a day before Vodafone reported the surveillance system to the Greek government, had unleashed 'all kinds of scenarios,' the newspaper said. As the mobile company's network planning manager, he was best placed to know who installed the software, insiders claim. 'We found no suicide note,' said Tsalikides's brother, Panayiotis. 'He had no health problems, was about to marry and was doing very well at work.' Even by the standards of scandal-prone Greece, the wiretaps revelations have been met with disbelief. Among those targeted by the eavesdroppers were the Foreign, Defence and Public Order Ministers, as well as Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and the leadership of the armed forces. Others included civil rights activists, the head of the 'stop the war' coalition, journalists and Arabs based in Athens. According to the government, which caused as much commotion with its abrupt decision to inform the public last Thursday, the monitoring began in June 2004, peaked around the August Olympic Games, and continued to March 2005 when the illicit system was uncovered following a barrage of operational complaints from customers. The hi-tech software enabled phone conversations to be diverted to a set of 14 'shadow' mobile phones which then relayed them to a recording system. Officials say the calls were intercepted on mobile phones picked up by antennae in an area close to the US embassy. 'This is all like something out of science fiction,' said the Socialist opposition leader George Papandreou. Why had Vodafone unilaterally deactivated the system, he asked, making it impossible for the authorities to trace where the calls were being monitored? UK Vodafone spokesman Ben Padovan played down the company's decision to remove the software and insisted that there was no connection between Tsalikides's death and the wiretaps. 'People are putting two and two together and making five,' he said. 'What happened in our subsidiary company, Vodafone Greece, was an isolated incident.' But few Greeks are convinced. The government's efforts to come clean have left far more questions than answers.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1702505,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/w...05,00.html</a>

by **hmm** » Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:00 am

i'm sorry i gave the impression i thought it was hackers,i meant to convey it was unlikely to be hackers due to the level of skill required and linked to the only case i know of hackers being caught doing something similar.. There have been some revelations posted on a tech site that shed some interesting light on this "illegal software". A recent trend is to ship high tech products with only the features the client buys "switched on" in software as opposed to shipping different products for different needs or regions,this is cheaper to produce and if a client wants a additional feature all they have to do is pay and a technician can activate them instead of having to ship and install a new product. It turns out this "illegal software" was a feature in the phone system that allowed government monitoring that was illegal to use in greece so it was supposed to be "switched off",but it wasn't, and it is said that this monitoring system was routed to a network of mobile phones hooked up to antenna's on top of buildings in a array around the area housing many foreign embassies in the capital.. sources: <a href="http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/03/1810219">politics.slashdot.org/art...03/1810219</a> <a href="http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/02/phone_tapping_i.html">www.schneier.com/blog/arc...ing_i.html</a> comment in the slashdot.org story: <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Not the whole story... (Score:5, Interesting) by Sub Zero 992 (947972) on Friday February 03, @02:28PM (#14636919) (<a href="http://jla.anarchist-platform.org/)">jla.anarchist-platform.org/)</a> Some more interesting details: 1) The software used was developed by Vodafone's major supplier, Ericsson. It was installed although Vodafone does not own any licenses to use it. <a href="http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi/_w_articles_polit">news.kathimerini.gr/4dcgi...cles_polit</a> ics_371_03/02/2006_172382 [kathimerini.gr] 2) Vodafone was notified by a Reseller, Q-Telecoms, about delays in text message delivery, after which they undertook an ad-hoc analysis. They found the software, supposedly a remotely activated Trojan (how the hell could a Trojan get onto an SMS gateway?), by sheer luck, and then disconnected the computer from the network. 3) The day after (2) the local security manager was discovered dead. "Suicide", don't you know. 4) Ta Nea (<a href="http://digital.tanea.gr/">digital.tanea.gr/</a> [tanea.gr]) are claiming it was the CIA, since the remote proxy used for collecting data appeared to lie in the vicinity of the American and / or British embassies. How amateurish is that? Their motive was "Anti-Terrorism" before, during and evidently also after the 2004 Olympics, which is no doubt why the list of mobiles being tracked also included those of some prominent, and very very active (if you follow the news about bombs and firebombs at Greek banks and ministries, you'll know what I mean) anarchists (not commies, much more left wing than those boy-scouts).<hr></blockquote>

by **antiaristo** » Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:12 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Vodafone embroiled in Greek phone-tapping scandal Helena Smith in Athens Tuesday February 7, 2006 The Guardian Vodafone's mobile phone operation in Greece has become embroiled in a phone-tapping scandal, nicknamed the Greek Watergate, after it discovered its network was being used to eavesdrop on the country's political and military elite. Last week, an inquiry was ordered by Costas Karamanlis, the prime minister, who was among the targets. It will focus on how spy software was installed within Vodafone's Greek mobile network before the 2004 Olympics. The spyware, understood to have been lurking within software bought from Ericsson, was spotted by the mobile phone operator last spring. When found, Vodafone disabled it and passed all the information on to the authorities. The illegal device enabled the eavesdroppers, who are still to be traced, to monitor phones owned by Mr Karamanlis, as well as his foreign, defence and public order ministers from June 2004 to last March. Mobiles belonging to the heads of the armed forces, secret services and judiciary were also "tapped". Most of the bugging is believed to have taken place around the time of the Olympics in August, when Greece faced heavy pressure to step up security. George Koronias, Vodafone Greece's chief executive, who is expected to be among the chief witnesses, said that he removed the device because it was his duty "towards my country and my company". Critics, however, contend that by deactivating the device, which diverted calls to 14 "shadow" phones connected to a recording machine, Mr Koronias made it impossible for authorities to trace the interceptors. The Greek authorities are also expected to look into the suicide of Kostas Tsalikides, Vodafone Greece's network planning manager, who took his own life on March 9 last year, shortly after the eavesdropping came to light. Vodafone however has made it plain that his death had nothing to do with the eavesdropping software.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1703702,00.html">business.guardian.co.uk/s...02,00.html</a>

by **hmm** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:54 am

from the english language version of the greek insert to the international herald tribune: <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_10/02/2006_66242">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66242</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Engineer felt things wrong at Vodafone Family sues for possible murder The family of Costas Tsalikidis, the Vodafone software engineer who allegedly committed suicide two days after spy software was discovered in the company's central system, yesterday filed a lawsuit against «those responsible» for complicity in his suicide or murder. In their lawsuit, the family claim that the engineer told his girlfriend that the company might close down and that it was «a matter of life and death» that he leave Vodafone. The family alleges that someone may have strangled Tsalikidis and then made it look like he committed suicide. They also claim that Tsalikidis was involved in a meeting with top Vodafone executives, including CEO Giorgos Koronias, on March 8 - a day before his death. The Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE) heard from Koronias yesterday. Sources said he told the watchdog that someone working for Vodafone or Ericsson must have helped activate the spy software. He also said the program was deactivated immediately on being discovered because of fears for national security. Tsalikidis's brother, Panayiotis, met prosecutor Yiannis Diotis yesterday and gave him a notebook kept by Costas between 27 January and 28 February last year. The notes were in English and Greek and included a heading titled «If something goes wrong.» He also wrote that «something is not right at the company.» The notebook also had a lot of technical data, sources said.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://info.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=937790">info.ekathimerini.com/4dc...aid=937790</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Suicide holds answers Colleague says Vodafone engineer ‘knew’ about phone taps A former colleague of the software engineer from Vodafone who committed suicide told a prosecutor yesterday that the high-level technician almost certainly knew about the spy software when he allegedly killed himself. The Communications Privacy Protection Authority (ADAE), meanwhile, is to begin questioning Vodafone and Ericsson about how the spy software operated. The technology for Vodafone's central software system was provided by the Swedish mobile phone company Ericsson. The watchdog is set to begin its probe today by questioning employees from Vodafone, including CEO Giorgos Koronias, about how the software which snooped on some 100 mobile phones was activated. Prosecutor Yiannis Diotis, who is investigating the alleged suicide of Costas Tsalikidis, a top software engineer at Vodafone, questioned a former colleague of Tsalikidis yesterday. Giorgos Constantinopoulos was in charge of communications security at the mobile telephony company until December 2004, when he resigned for personal reasons. The spy software began working in the summer of 2004 and was discovered on March 7 last year. Sources said Constantinopoulos told Diotis that he was sure Tsalikidis was in a position to know about the spy software and that his death is likely to have been connected to that discovery. Diotis is due to question Tsalikidis's brother today as he attempts to find out more about what may have led the technician to commit suicide. Tsalikidis's family are also expected to ask authorities to dig up his body so it can be re-examined by coroners. Diotis is also trying to obtain a copy of the last e-mail sent by Tsalikidis at 4.25 a.m. on March 9 last year, a few hours before he was found hanging in his apartment. The e-mail is believed to have contained technical details of a project he was working on and was sent to colleagues at Vodafone. Meanwhile, the Public Order Ministry yesterday denied a report by Kathimerini that a team called «OLAF» was formed before the Athens Olympics to monitor phones. The ministry said OLAF was working under the auspices of the European Anti-Fraud Office and was tackling financial crime. However, documents obtained by Kathimerini indicate that team was involved in phone tapping.<hr></blockquote> while checking news.google.com i came across two related articles that mention interesting agencies <a href="http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=24229&cat_id=1">www.cyprus-mail.com/news/...9&cat_id=1</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>DISY taps in to Greek phone scandal By Elias Hazou DESPITE assurances that the phone-tapping scandal in Greece does not have any local implications, politicians here have scrambled to score points on an issue linked to privacy and national security. Last Thursday, it emerged that unknown eavesdroppers tapped the mobile phones of Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, five cabinet members and dozens of top officials for about a year. Illegal software installed at Greece's second biggest mobile phone operator, Vodafone Greece, allowed calls to and from about 100 phones to be recorded. Most belonged to the government, but one was owned by the US embassy in Athens The Cyprus government rushed to play down concerns of a similar breach in Cyprus, adding there was no reason to launch a special investigation. By Friday the matter was considered closed. Even CyTA’s (Cyprus Telecommunications Authority) response was low-key: the organisation released a short, formulaic statement three paragraphs long saying that it had the necessary security to protect telephone communications. But during the weekend, opposition DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades revealed that a few months ago the director of the secret service (KYP) Tasos Tzionis had met with Mossad officials in Israel. According to Anastassiades, the purpose of the visit was to acquire cutting-edge surveillance equipment or technical know-how from Israel.<hr></blockquote> this article though brief is interesting as it gives a glimpse at the kind people/organisations targeted in the tapping <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_10/02/2006_66239">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66239</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Claims of secret CIA grilling A Greek businessman claimed yesterday that he had been interrogated in connection with a business trip to Iraq by Bulgarian authorities and then CIA officers while he was living in Sofia in July 2004. Vassilis Katsikeas, the former head of the Foundation for Mediterranean Cooperation (FMC), a non-governmental organization, confirmed the allegation which was published in the Pontiki weekly newspaper. Katsikeas had Arab contacts and his wife had visited Iraq several times. Foreign Ministry spokes-man Giorgos Koumoutsakos said yesterday Athens was aware of the matter and the Greek Embassy had been following it closely. He later said that the Foreign Ministry has never been informed about the abduction and interrogation of Greeks by foreign secret services. Meanwhile, Katsikeas said that he has instructed a lawyer to act on his behalf in the probe into phone tapping. His lawyer said that two of the phone numbers on the list of those tapped belonged to FMC and were used by Katsikeas and his wife.<hr></blockquote> website of the NGO mentioned in previous article <a href="http://www.infomedacoop.gr/default.asp?ToggleLang=1">www.infomedacoop.gr/defau...ggleLang=1</a>

by **antiaristo** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 8:37 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Vodafone faces fines over Greek bugging scandal Helena Smith in Athens and Conal Walsh Sunday February 12, 2006 The Observer Vodafone faces fines and possible legal action in Greece following revelations that its network enabled eavesdroppers to spy on the country's political and military elite, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. News of possible punitive action against the mobile phone giant follows the dramatic admission by Vodafone Greece's chief executive George Koronias that an employee may have played a role in installing and activating the surveillance software behind the bugging. Koronias conceded that the tapping 'must have been' the work of an insider when questioned for two-and-a half hours by Greece's communications regulator last week. The watchdog said it would fine the company if it found it had violated the privacy code. Vodafone has been criticised in Greece for deactivating the bugging system as soon as it was found, rather than informing the government first. Critics contend that by deactivating the device, which diverted calls to 14 'shadow' phones connected to a recording machine, the company made it impossible for authorities to trace the interceptors. But Vodafone has denied it is at fault and pledged to help the authorities trace the phone-tappers. Koronias defended his decision to remove the spy software saying it was his duty 'towards my country and my company'. The scandal has created uproar in Greece, with opposition politicians calling on ministers to resign over the security breach. The government has announced a full judicial investigation into what has been dubbed the 'Greek Watergate'. Last week marchers demonstrated outside the American embassy in Athens. A poll indicated that most Greeks believe the US government is behind the bugging; 8 per cent of respondents blamed the British secret services. The unidentified eavesdroppers are believed to have monitored portable phones owned by Karamanlis between June 2004 and March 2005, as well as phones belonging to other leading politicians, military chiefs, and left-wing activists. A number of Arabs based in Greece were also bugged. Most of the phone-tapping is believed to have taken place around the time of the 2004 Olympics, when Greece faced heavy pressure to step up security ahead of the world's biggest sporting event. It has also emerged that Kostas Tsalikides, Vodafone's top technician in Greece, committed suicide a day before the discovery of the illegal software. Days earlier, the technician had written about his fears for the company in a diary entry entitled 'If something goes wrong'. He wrote: 'it is a matter of life or death that I leave the company.' On Friday, Tsalikides' family filed a lawsuit against 'unknown persons' for complicity in his death. Vodafone Greece has said its employee's death was not linked to the phone-tapping affair.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1707626,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/b...26,00.html</a> Koronias defended his decision to remove the spy software saying it was his duty 'towards my country and my company' Ollie North, anyone?

by **hmm** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:11 am

amazing how they all seem to have the same shoddy script to work from.. the denials are on the record: <a href="http://www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=565920">www.mpa.gr/article.html?doc_id=565920</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>INQUIRY LAUNCHED INTO PHONE- TAPS AND VODAFONE EXECUTIVE'S DEATH Athens, 6 February 2006 (16:03 UTC+2) A preliminary inquiry into the death of a senior Vodafone executive in charge of the mobile phone provider's network design department - at the time considered a suicide - began on Monday with the testimony of police officer Lt. Gen. Stelios Syrros. Costas Tsalikidis died on March 9, 2005, just a few days after a 'ghost' software system responsible for the clandestine tapping of 46 Vodafone mobiles, including those of the Greek prime minister and several members of government, was discovered in Vodafone's systems. His death also occurred one day before the security breach was reported to the government. Syrros, who led top-secret police investigation into the phone-tapping conspiracy lasting 11 months, had attributed the 38-year-old's death to suicide in his last testimony to a public prosecutor, which is also the sole cause of death listed in a police report submitted at that time. In charge of the re-opened judicial investigation is first-instance court public prosecutor Ioannis Diotis, who was also in charge of the investigation into the terror group November 17. ~snip~ An announcement by Vodafone on Monday, meanwhile, denied reports claiming a series of meetings between Tsalikidis and Vodafone managing director George Koronias in the crucial period when the phone-taps were discovered, as well as meetings between Tsalikidis and a series of other senior Vodafone executives. ~snip~ According to Public Order Minister George Voulgarakis, the 'ghost' software was actually a legal but very costly 'lowphone interception' programme developed by Ericsson that had not, however, been purchased by Vodafone and had been activated without the knowledge of either Vodafone or Ericsson. <hr></blockquote> tough on crime (but not the causes?): <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_11/02/2006_66292">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66292</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Tougher rules are being lined up for phone companies PM to push on Monday for big fines if firms do not protect caller privacy The prime minister is preparing to toughen the measures against telephony companies that do not protect their customers’ privacy following the political turmoil created by the tapping of government mobile phones, sources told Kathimerini yesterday. ~snip~ Later the same day, he will make a public address during which he will announce the government’s intention to tighten up the operating framework for telecommunications companies. Sources indicated that the prime minister will also call for a change in the criminal code and stiffer fines for mobile telephone firms that breach their terms of operation, while suggesting that Vodafone — the company at the center of the tapping affair — could be held accountable for its handling of the matter. ~snip~ Meanwhile, Yiannis Diotis, the prosecutor investigating the death of Vodafone software engineer Costas Tsalikidis, and Dimitris Papangelopoulos, the chief prosecutor overseeing the probe into the phone-tapping affair, met with Supreme Court prosecutor Dimitris Linos yesterday to brief him on their progress. Diotis heard from Tsalikidis’s brother and former fiancee this week. Both said the technician suggested there were problems at work in the weeks leading up to his death. Diotis is expected to question Tsalikidis’s former co-workers next week to find out what kind of problems he had at work. Tsalikidis tendered his resignation some three weeks before he allegedly committed suicide, but it was rejected by Vodafone.<hr></blockquote> "tough" penalties for the telcos,no mention of the people behind this.. The two prosecutors on this case have interesting backgrounds,Yiannis (or Ioannis?) Diotis who is investigating the "suicide" has a counter-terrorism background and previously investigated left-wing groups. Dimitris Papangelopoulos,investigating the phone tapping, has a anti-corruption background and the suggestion in this scandal and a previous mention in the press is that he is not know for his speed or effectiveness. As counter-terrorism and corruption of the system goes to the hart of this case the choice of these prosecutors seems oddly conflicting.. <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_21/01/2006_65441">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_65441</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Robbery suspects charged Police interrogate, release 25-year-old initially identified as a robber Police continued to round up suspects connected to Monday’s attempted robbery of a National Bank of Greece branch, which left a bank guard and one of the thieves seriously injured An Athens lower court prosecutor yesterday brought charges of robbery, attempted murder and possession, and use of firearms against the injured robber, 28-year-old technical college student Yiannis Dimitrakis and 30-year-old Simeon Seisidis, who remains at large and whose photo has been distributed to the media by police. Like Dimitrakis, Seisidis is said to be close to anarchist groups and has had run-ins with the police. ~snip~ Late on Thursday night, Dimitrakis was interrogated by police officers and prosecutor Ioannis Diotis, who had previously been involved in counter-terrorism operations and who has, in fact, displaced his successor, Dimitris Asprogerakas.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_columns_100030_14/01/2006_65152">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_65152</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Independent justice By Nikos Nikolaou The call by Athens Bar Association President Dimitris Paxinos for the government and top judges to purge the judicial system of corruption echoes a popular demand. Cleaning up graft in Greek courts would clearly advance the interests of a country still mired in corruption despite the political changeover two years ago. Of course, the war on corruption is primarily the government’s business. It’s up to the conservative ministers to restore fair and transparent management. But justice has a key role to play as well, for under the constitution the judiciary is the guardian of the law. The numerous cases of corruption reported in recent years have resulted from blatant legal violations. Regrettably, the judicial system turned a blind eye as political figures joined hands with business figures in an entangled net. ~snip~ I would personally recommend to the Supreme Court president that he designate a prosecutor specifically tasked with investigating corruption charges. Chief Athens court of first instance prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos has no doubt done a great job in this regard, but broader mobilization is needed to cleanse the sector. <hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100004_07/02/2006_66099">www.ekathimerini.com/4dcg...2006_66099</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Suicide scrutinized as pressure mounts over phone tapping PASOK calls for ministers to resign over their handling of eavesdropping affair ~snip~ PASOK MPs criticized the fact that the preliminary investigation by chief prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos had taken 11 months. «I think the case should be given to another prosecutor who is objective and independent from government dictates,» said Theodoros Pangalos. Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos denied that the ruling conservatives were exerting any influence over the judiciary.<hr></blockquote>

by **StarmanSkye** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:40 pm

"The scandal has created uproar in Greece, with opposition politicians calling on ministers to resign over the security breach. The government has announced a full judicial investigation into what has been dubbed the 'Greek Watergate'. Last week marchers demonstrated outside the American embassy in Athens. A poll indicated that most Greeks believe the US government is behind the bugging; 8 per cent of respondents blamed the British secret services." The Greek public evidently has a long memory re: the US and UK role in masterminding the coup and military junta that established and protected Greece's legacy of extreme, repressive rightwing dictatorship, and so 'naturally' suspician would acrue that the US and/or UK were behind the bugging. Another 'wonderful' example of America's unapologetic Foreign Policy blowback, an extension of Europe's postwar Gladio and P2 networks. It would appear the Greek Judiciary is sufficiently compromised by corruption with a vested interest in protecting the deeply-entrenched right-leaning status quo so the public has plenty of grounds to suspect that justice will be stalled, deflected and deferred. A lot of parallels here with systemic domestic American and UK abuses linked to obscure (and opportunistic) 'National Security' interests. The big difference would seem to be that, at least in America, the PTB rather blatently presume to have authority to spy in secret, and so don't acknowledge there's any question of them doing anything 'wrong'. Cripes, we even have the so-called Attorney General going-after whistle-blowers who leaked evidence of NSA's dubiously-legal spying. I daresay it looks like the Citizens of Greece are quite a bit more politically savvy and sophisticated than a LOT of folks here in the US -- even though both nations obviously have serious flaws and faults in their political (and legal) institutions. Perhaps Greek society, with it's positive experience of recent political reform and success reclaiming major tenets of participatory democracy, has cause to not be as cynical and jaded as wide swaths of American society. There sure is an irony, tho, in a nation recently self-liberated from the tyranny of American (and western) covert interference propping-up a ruthless and corrupt military dictatorship under the guise of exporting freedom (and controlling 'acceptable' forms of political expression) should serve as an example of what a free democratic society really looks like. Greece sure has taken a circuititous route in rediscovering its historical legacy as having (famously) 'invented' democracy -- although it was actually more a feudal oligarchy than what we commonly think of as a 'true' democracy. Hmm ... very close to what exists today, beneath the rhetoric and PR psyop memes, except instead of oligarchies the seat of power is controlled by feuding corporate-plutocracies (with fluid, opportunistic alliances as the primary ruling-elite PTB syndicate-aligned actors scramble for position at the top of the pyramid-heap.) The world-over, secret spying linked to official corruption and abuses indicates ruling structures at war with their own society. Perhaps one of the more important aspects of this is that large numbers of people now readily acknowledge it, as ruling elites find it increasingly problematic to convince the public that their spying and civil rights abuses are for their own good, to 'protect' them from imperfectly-seen, muteable dangers. Still, I don't see a widespread phenomenon of Citizen's Tribunals and Truth and Reconciliation movements happening anytime soon, as citizens rediscover and use their collective self-governing authority to clean-house and purge government institutions of interests inimical to the greater good. Community education and self-empowerment will require organization and time to effectively counter the destructive tendencies of parasitical political and economic forces (and groups). Stan Goff's recently-posted article on transgressive, creative thinking and 'crossing the line' re: activism and civil disobendience is esp. relevant in imagining what is possible -- and even necessary -- to energize the politics of resistance. Dang -- 'Scuse my rambling digressive rant. Food fer thought, etc. Starman

by **antiaristo** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:22 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Vodafone's Greek tragedy: Act II Helena Smith in Athens Sunday February 26, 2006 The Observer Vodafone's role in an eavesdropping scandal bearing all the hallmarks of a spy thriller came under further scrutiny in Greece yesterday as authorities began screening the phone calls of one of the company's top men nearly a year after his death from apparent suicide. Investigators say the death last March of Costas Tsalikides, the mobile giant's network planning manager in Greece, is key to solving the mystery behind the bugging of more than 100 portable phones belonging to senior officials, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. Vodafone Greece's decision to withhold several of Tsalikides' personal possessions - including notebooks in which he speaks of 'suicide' and difficulties at the telephone provider - has added to mounting criticism of the company. Last week, Greece's independent telecoms security watchdog, ADAE, blasted Vodafone Greece's chief executive, George Koronias, for failing to report the spy software before removing it from the operator's central systems. This made it impossible for authorities to trace the interceptors. 'Koronias was obliged first and foremost to notify ADAE,' said the watchdog's head, Andreas Lambrinopoulos, testifying before a parliamentary committee. 'Together, we could have found ways to protect national security and handle the issue.' Tsalikides, who had an unrivalled knowledge to the network, was found dead a day after the discovery of eavesdropping equipment in Vodafone's central computer systems. Investigators hope scrutiny of his calls will help them resolve 'several riddles'. Chief among these are the circumstances of his death. His body was found hanging from a piece of rope attached to a remote pipe in his bathroom loft. Last week, the prosecutor leading the probe, Ioannis Diotis, reportedly told colleagues he found the death 'particularly disturbing'.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1717891,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/b...91,00.html</a>

by **hmm** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:54 pm

we seem to notice many of the same details in people's writings that expose "that which is hidden"... this is a important story and i have a few links with updates but i have been a bit busy looking at an angle in the Abramoff story, that seems to have had even less press than this scandal, to get round to posting them.

Greek governments phones taped for over a year

Greek governments phones taped for over a year

Re: Greek governments phones taped for over a year

Re: Greek governments phones taped for over a year

Culpability

Re: Culpability

Re: Culpability

Looks like another one "suicided".

Re: Culpability - and the PROMIS

How do they know?

Re: Friends,family and co-workers are speaking out

Ah...Patriotism

Re: Ah...Patriotism

Re: Ah...Patriotism

Vodafone's Greek tragedy: Act II

Re: Vodafone's Greek tragedy: Act II

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