Govt OKs wiretapping reform (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, November 2 - The cabinet on Thursday approved a decree reforming wiretapping regulations proposed by Justice Minister Andrea Orlando largely to stop sensitive and not criminally relevant information making its way into the media while keeping a fundamental tool in police hands. The draft decree must now be vetted by the parliamentary justice committees before returning to cabinet.
    The decree does not curb the use of wiretaps but their abuse, Premier Paolo Gentiloni said. "We're not restricting the use of wiretaps but we're fighting their abuse, we know this tool is fundamental for investigations and in now ay do we want to restrict the possibility of using a tool fundamental for the judiciary in combatting the most serious crimes, " he said. Gentiloni stressed that "it is clear, however, that there have been frequent abuses over the past few years". He said the reform "lays down a more stringent use (of wiretaps) without undermining freedom of reporting". Gentiloni said "this work has been done by various governments and with various difficulties over 15 years, referring to repeated but largely vain attempts to rein in the publication of sensitive and embarrassing material unrelated to criminal probes.
    "Arriving at a point of equilibrium is a significant achievement.
    "After years of discussion we have finally got a solution that in my view if fair and balanced".
    Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said the reform sets limits against revealing contents of wiretaps that are not "criminally relevant", after a string of controversial cases of invasion of privacy. "Wiretaps are not ordered to shed light on the personal sphere of individuals but to prosecute crimes," he said.
    Magistrates union ANM welcomed the government efforts to raise privacy safeguards but said a restriction on using trojan horses to detect criminals' computer use was "a step backwards. "The effort is a worthy one," said ANM chief Eugenio Albamonte, hailing "the goal of fully safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of those who have nothing to do with probes". But he described the restriction on the use of "computer detectors" as a "major limit" and a "step backwards that does not correspond to the spirit of the jurisprudence". Albamonte said the government had not understood that "this technical tool serves to bring investigative capacity into step with the times".