[governance] EU officials 'hacked' at Azerbaijan Internet Governance Forum

[Narine Khachatryan]

EU officials 'hacked' at Azerbaijan Internet Governance Forum

http://www.zdnet.com/eu-officials-hacked-at-azerbaijan-internet-governance-forum-7000007093/

*Summary:** A spokesman for digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes says
he and one of her policy advisors have had their laptops hacked in Baku,
which they are visiting for a major internet policy conference. A day
before, Kroes had laid into her hosts for spying on activists.*



By David Meyer <http://www.zdnet.com/meet-the-team/uk/david.meyer/> |
November 8, 2012 -- 09:05 GMT (01:05 PST)

The laptops of two EU officials have apparently been hacked in Azerbaijan
during the Internet Governance Forum.

The officials both work for digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes, who
gave a speech at the forum on Wednesday in which she lambasted the Azeri
government for spying on activists online, and promised to promote tools
for helping journalists avoid surveillance.

"Great, now my Mac has been hacked," Kroes's spokesman, Ryan Heath,
tweeted<https://twitter.com/RyanHeathEU/statuses/266454748016820224>
on
Thursday morning. "Also
@msprotonneutron<https://twitter.com/MsProtonNeutron> [policy
officer Camino Manjon] — I wonder who could have done that? #Azerbaijan."

<https://twitter.com/RyanHeathEU> Great, now my Mac has been hacked. Also @*
MsProtonNeutron* <https://twitter.com/MsProtonNeutron> - I wonder who could
have done that? #*Azerbaijan* <https://twitter.com/search/%23Azerbaijan>

Heath subsequently
clarified<https://twitter.com/RyanHeathEU/statuses/266476918344384512>
to
ZDNet UK that the alleged hacking had taken place in a hotel, rather than
at the event itself.

"Hacked @ hotel rather than at #IGF12. Someone else took over my personal
MacBook. Can't determine more yet," he wrote.

   Seriously? At a conference about internet freedoms, among other things?

 Hacked @ hotel rather than at #*IGF12*<https://twitter.com/search/%23IGF12>.
Someone else took over my personal MacBook. Can't determine more yet.

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is an annual event at which internet
policymakers from around the world convene for discussions with the
technical community, academics and other stakeholders.

This year's event comes less a month before the World Conference on
International Telecommunications in Dubai, at which global telecoms rules
will be revised for the first time in around 24 years. Some fear that
governments could assume more control over the internet in the new rules,
although Kroes told ZDNet UK in
August<http://www.zdnet.com/no-need-for-un-to-take-over-internet-says-eu-digital-chief-kroes-7000003145/>
that
she opposed such a move.

Kroes's speech<http://www.zdnet.com/story/create/%3C%20a%20href=%22http:/europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-12-784_en.htm?locale=en%22%3E>
on
Wednesday was combative in tone. Describing the internet as "the new
frontier of freedom and a new tool to exercise this freedom", she accused
her hosts of breaking pre-Eurovision promises to loosen their grip on free
expression.

"In this very country, we see many arbitrary restrictions on the media,"
Kroes said. "We see the exercise of free speech effectively criminalised.
We see violent attacks on journalists. And we see activists spied on
online, violating the privacy of journalists and their sources. I condemn
this. The restrictions must end."

Kroes referred to the European Commission's 'No Disconnect' strategy, which
involves giving online activists "technological tools… that help
journalists avoid surveillance and safeguard their right to privacy".
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