Greek, U.S. Officials Tapped For Years

Bruce Schneier posts on a story being reported in the Seattle Intelligencer. Greek and U.S. officials in Greece apparently had their phones tapped for over a year before the 2004 Olympics. From the article: "It was not known who was responsible for the taps, which numbered about 100 and included Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis and his wife, and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense, public order and justice. Most of Greece's top military and police officers were also targeted, as were foreign ministry officials and a U.S. embassy number. Also tapped were some journalists and human rights activists." Schneier gives a bit of technical background on how the tapping was accomplished.

Comments

Acceptable, no?

[Anonymous Coward]

We were tapping them to protect them from terrorists. They should be grateful but no, it's Blame America First and Give Comfort to Our Enemies.

So?

[garrett714]

Greek and U.S. officials in Greece apparently had their phones tapped for over a year before the 2004 Olympics.

Mod me troll like I'm sure you troll mods will, but honestly who the hell cares about this? People are getting tapped constantly in the US and elsewhere, how is this story even remotely interesting to anybody but the person who posted it and the mod who let it through?

A few questions for Bush

[mhollis]

So they're trying to justify the illegal spying on US Citizens (who have special rights under US law within their own country) in terms of spying on foreign nationals (not illegal). Essentially, this is an attempt at obfuscation.

So here are my questions:

• When you say "We want to know who Al Qaida is calling" do you mean the real terrorist organization or "a person with an opposing political view that you don't like and that you would like to spy on." In other words, just because you call the caller Al Qaida doesn't make the caller Al Qaida.

• Since the judge who generally handles these warrants can almost always be counted on to rubber-stamp any request made by the NSA, what exactly is it that is so illegal that you want to hide it from her?

• Why are you refusing to even enumerate those you have spied on? Is the number so large that there might be an unfavorable reaction?

• If there are no checks and balances on your spy operation, how can you prove to the American people that it is not illegal with no oversight? Are we supposed to just blindly trust your word after it was proven false so many times in the past (I'm thinking about the rationale for starting an illegal war in Iraq here)?

• Why is it you say that a law, passed by Congress to prevent the illegal spying the Nixon Administration did on its political opponents is outdated? Is it due to the unlikliness that a Republican House of Representatives probably won't pass a bill of impeachment?

Re:Why can't we have...

[lawpoop]

The Powers That Be really really *really* don't want private individuals to have private conversations. It would be too easy for them to organize their ouster.

Who fucking cares?

[Sepodati]

If you weren't doing anything wrong, then who cares if some dick listens to you calling your wife pet names. There are obivious security issues to be concerned about with the olympics. They should be able to monitor communications to find any wrongdoing/planning/bribing/etc...

---John Holmes...