[privacy] Vodafone's 'tappers' named

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1810482,00.html
 
Vodafone's 'tappers' named 

Criticism of mobile giant mounts with evidence that its Greek operation shut
down devices before eavesdroppers could be traced 

Helena Smith in Athens
Sunday July 2, 2006
The Observer   

Five senior Vodafone technicians have been accused of being the operational
masterminds of an elaborate eavesdropping scandal enveloping the mobile
phone giant's Greek subsidiary. 

The employees, named in a report released last week by Greece's independent
telecoms watchdog, ADAE, allegedly installed spy software into Vodafone's
central systems. The hi-tech rogue devices enabled 'persons unknown' to
eavesdrop on conversations of the political, military and economic elite for
nearly a year, the watchdog said. 

While some 106 mobile phones were monitored, initially during the 2004
Athens Olympics, the wiretaps were capable of intercepting around 4,000
local Vodafone subscribers, ADAE said. 

'Vodafone could have located the entry of the rogue software from 10 August
2004 [when it was first activated],' the Athens daily, Ta Nea, quoted the
body as saying. 'However, there was no reaction from the company.' 

The report, which also implicated a female technician employed by the
company's infrastructure provider, Ericsson, were submitted to Greek
judicial authorities after a four-month inquiry. They will form the basis of
a further investigation by an examining magistrate who could bring criminal
charges against the engineers and other senior employees. 

'This report contains facts that, if followed up properly, could contribute
to discovering not only all those who were monitored but those behind the
entire operation,' wrote ADAE's chairman, Andreas Lambrinopoulos. 

The UK-based operator's Greek subsidiary has been hard hit by the scandal in
a country where use of mobile phones is among the highest in the European
Union. 

The company's unilateral decision to deactivate the devices before experts
could trace the eavesdroppers has been especially criticised. 

The apparent suicide of its network planning manager, Kostas Tsalikides, a
day after the discovery of the devices has added to the furore. Last Monday,
a Supreme Court prosecutor announced that Tsalikides's death was directly
linked to the affair. 

Since the scandal came to light in February, the Greek provider has been
forced to counter the accusations with advertisements denying any wrongdoing
and explaining its heightened awareness of 'customer confidentiality'. 

The independent watchdog named 33 Vodafone employees who had access to the
company's software. It claimed that 14 'shadow cell phones', used both to
intercept and relay conversations to a central database, were co-ordinated
through text messages received from at least seven foreign countries,
including Britain, Australia and the United States. 

In an unexpected twist, the ADAE revealed that the eavesdropping network was
'turned on' twice: between August and September 2004, when the Olympic and
Paralympic Games were held in Athens, and between October and March 2005,
when the devices were discovered. 

Vodafone declined to comment.


_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy