From Watergate to Berlusconi : it’s all about controlling the information!

by: MICHELE
Total views: 23 | Word Count: 334

For those who, either because they are directly involved or just to keep themselves informed, followed the latest development in Italian political life, the latest diatribe between the Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi on one side, and newspapers and judges on the other may sound business as usual: since he “entered the field” back in 1994, the man always had a soft spot for trying to keep both information and the judiciary as quiet as possible, while his government was passing “tailored” bills and acts.

The latest quarrel Mr. Berlusconi had with journalists and judges, labeled as “communist” , was concerning the usage of eavesdropped conversations as evidence, and their leaking onto the press before they were going to be used before a court of law.

Basically, the right-wing government in Italy now wants to prevent compromising eavesdropped conversations from being used as evidence, and from being published on newspapers, and ultimately it would not even be possible to collect them, thus making investigation “de facto” useless.

Keeping the press under control has always been an important part of “creating consensus” for all governments worldwide, as well as being able to obtain information about political rivals to discredit them, as seen in the Watergate scandal, when bugs were discovered in the Democratic Party’s headquarters, planted by their Republican rivals.

Nowadays, the miniaturization of technology allows this kind of devices to be almost invisible, and capable of being concealed basically everywhere, with a clarity of sound almost unimaginable at Watergate times.

GSM technology allows bugs to work exactly like mobile phones: they relay the conversations via a simple telephone call, can be programmed with an SMS, and even send SMS notifications when they start recording.

Much easier than having to stay awake for long hours listening to each and every conversation, modern bugs may transmit to a recording device, and a distant listener may easily find what he is looking for.

This kind of bugs and audio transmitters are cheaper than one can expect, and can be found at specialized online spy shops.