Wiretapped conversations sparks debate
"We are witnessing … useless and excessive disclosures about people who, sometimes, have nothing to do with the events that are being investigated," said the minister, Clemente Mastella, in an interview published on Monday in the Corriere della Sera.
The arrest on Friday on corruption and racketeering charges of Prince Victor Emmanuel has led to another spate of published wiretap transcripts the confidentiality of which is, in theory, protected during prosecutors’ investigations.
The issue received a broad public airing with the so-called "Fazio affair" in 2005, named for the ex-governor of the Bank of Italy Antonio Fazio, and then again during a scandal sparked by rigged football matches.
In May, L’Expresso weekly published a two-volume "special issue" composed almost entirely of court-ordered wiretap transcripts from the football scandal, including the mobile phone number of the Italian team’s trainer.
"It’s ‘Big Brother’. And that is unfair," the minister said, comparing the situation with the down-to-the-last-detail surveillance system described in George Orwell’s cautionary novel "1984".
"We cannot continue like this, we have to avoid the premature release of wiretap transcripts," Mastella said, adding he would consider proposing a law on the matter.
Italy’s centre-right opposition coalition has said it would support such a measure.
INet-Bridge
Loading ...