Stable Door is just fine wide open, Thanks

As reported in the Irish Times of July 8th 2011, "Garda sources said there were currently no criminal investigations into phone hacking by journalists in the Republic because there had been no complaints about the practice."

On Today FM's  Sunday Supplement with Sam Smyth, communications minister, Pat Rabbitte, assured us he saw no need for an investigation of voicemail hacking in the Irish Republic as there was no evidence of it.
He did allow that his position might be naive but can naievity be the defense of someone who in 2006 was himself reportedly concerned about the vulnerabilities of Leinster Houses's voicemail.

Minister Rabbitte's placement of his head in the sand seems to reflect a general tendency in Irish political and media circles to blindly ignore the following facts:

1. There is indeed evidence of journalists in Ireland hacking the voicemail boxes of politicians and private individuals.  See the list of stories below.
2. Voicemail hacking is not the exclusive preserve of journalists or Private Investigators.  Because it is so well documented and demonstrated on several web sites, why should we assume that only journalists would be interested?  Why not also criminals, terrorists, currency speculators, political enemies?
3. Irish Mobile Operators continue to operate their voicemail systems with the most lax security procedures, relying on subscribers to voluntarily set passwords and providing no defense against software that can dial from a configurable caller ID.

If  your neighbour's house is burgled, why would you continue to leave your doors and windows unlocked at night?  

Pat picks up a voicemail

When you are minister for communications why would you allow this to go on?  

Evidence of Journalistic Hacking in Ireland

• Alex Marunchak, Slovak-born editor of the Irish News of the World paid a hacker to intercept emails from the computer of a British army intelligence officer. (But he wouldn't pay for voicemails would he?)
• Paul McMullan, who worked for the Irish News of the World in the 1990s, said the tactics used in Ireland on some stories were the same as those used in the UK.
• In Northern Ireland, the media is suspected of hacking the voicemails of politicians and private individuals.  Are they so much more interesting? 
• The Irish Mirror hacked the voicemail of several Irish politicians back in the late 1990s

There is little evidence that Irish Mobile Operators or corporate voicemail vendors have improved their security since that time and there seems to be no will on the part of the communications minister to force them to take the measures required.


What if Facebook or Google treated their users' private communications like mobile operators treat voicemails?  "We provide a standard password for all new users. You have the option to set a unique one if you want and if you connect from your home IP address, we won't check for a password anyway!"

Who would sign up for that?   How long would the service providers stay in business?

An Irish Times article of July 7th, quotes a spokesman for the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner saying that while "there was no evidence to suggest phone hacking was prevalent within the Irish newspaper industry ...That does not mean, however, it is not happening, just that we have no proof that it is taking place,” He added that legislation was in place “to protect people”.

Legislation does not protect people from burglary, locked doors and windows do.