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Blogs, Libel and Anonymity: The New Face of Cybercrime in GreeceBlogs, Libel and Anonymity: The New Face of Cybercrime in Greece Panayotis A. Yannakogeorgos An international investigation, conducted by the Hellenic National Polices cybercrime unit, which aims to identify the owners and operators of the allegedly libelous blog www.press-gr.blogspot.com, culminated this past Friday with the confiscation of computers belonging to journalist Andreas Kapsambelis. As of this writing, the investigation continues to identify other anonymous contributors to the blog, including one operating within the Hellenic Parliament. The Press-GR blog has been a target of at least one-hundred lawsuits since 2006, when it began publishing allegedly libelous articles targeting politicians across the political spectrum, Greek Orthodox Church leaders and journalists. The only problem was that, there was no way to prosecute the anonymous bloggers without breaching the confidentiality of private data protected under Greek law. Had the bloggers continued posting articles on the World Wide Web, they might have been able to continue their operation without having to worry about the special prosecutor lifting this protection. However, the bloggers crossed a red line by following up on their e-libel with attempts to blackmail the targets on at least one occasion. In his lawsuit against Press-GR, journalist Vassilis Hiotis alleges that, after a series of blog posts targeting him, he received an anonymous e-mail demanding 30,000 euros in exchange for an end to such posts. This charge of blackmail provided a special prosecutor with the justification to authorize the Hellenic National Polices cybercrime unit to initiate the ongoing international investigation aiming to identify the anonymous bloggers. The investigation, which according to media reports, spans Greece, Cyprus, Columbia, Afghanistan and Google headquarters in the United States, was conducted in accordance with the Council of Europes Convention on Cybercrime (COE Convention). This convention aims to enhance the cooperation of its signatories, including the United States, in cybercrime investigations by harmonizing the domestic legal and technical frameworks to meet the challenge of the misuse of elements of cyberspace, such as the Internet. Such legislation was required due to the technical complexities in chasing criminals in an electromagnetic wilderness. Key elements of the COE Convention include provisions on the harmonization of procedural law, the establishment of an international 24/7 Network staffed by properly equipped and trained personnel who can address instances of cybercrime. Significantly, the COE Convention solves the problem of transnational extradition in cases of transnational cybercrime. While a lot of work needs to be done to implement all of its elements in practice, the current investigation indicates that it has produced results. To demonstrate for the layman the complexity of conducting such investigations, Greek cybercrime investigators needed to locate the location of the server hosting the blog, as well as the identity of the users. To locate the server, investigators had to breach various electronic accounts located in the above countries. Googles cooperation was requested since Blogspot, a subsidiary of Google, was the main host for the blog, and Google could and did reveal the administrators Internet Protocol (IP) address. This address could then be used by Greek authorities to request local internet service providers (ISPs) to look through their logs and pinpoint the user with which that IP was associated with. Cybercrime is not a new phenomenon in Greece. The recent arrest of a Greek mathematician and his British cohort, charged with breaking into sensitive computer systems belonging to a French defense company is one case of industrial espionage via cyberspace. The infamous Vodafone scandal, involving the sophisticated phone tapping operation targeting the Prime Ministers cell phone, is another case. Both cases revealed a need to crack down on cybercrime. The current Press-GR blog indicates that a new face of cybercrime in Greece has emerged. A blackmailer no longer has to travel from television station to newspaper headquarters with a DVD in hand to sell to the highest bidder when a blackmail attempt fails. This essentially follows the trend of criminals transferring their operations to cyberspace. Panayotis A. Yannakogeorgos Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University
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