Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, the son of Italy's last king, was jailed in June on charges he ran a gambling and prostitution ring. Newspapers treated the public to transcripts of taped phone calls, including one in which he complains 200 euros ($265) is too much to pay for a call girl.
The late King Umberto II's 69-year-old son, who denies the charges, was among 30 million people in Italy whose phones were legally tapped in the past decade, according to Eurispes, a Rome research institute. Now prosecutors accuse former Telecom Italia SpA workers of illegally spying on politicians and executives.
The recent allegations united Prime Minister Romano Prodi and opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi behind legislation restricting the publication of taped phone calls. Italy is the most-bugged country in Europe and North America, according to a 2003 study by the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Crime Law.
"We need to guarantee the privacy of those who have nothing to do with the investigations,'' said Massimo Brutti, vice president of parliament's oversight committee for security and secret services. "There have been abuses in the past.''
Vittorio Emanuele's conversations were splashed across the pages of Italian newspapers after he was arrested June 16 on charges of criminal association, corruption and favoring prostitution. He was released after a week in jail and is awaiting trial.
`Sense of Injustice'
The investigation is an unfounded attack by "hidden powers,'' Vittorio Emanuele said in an e-mail.
"I felt a strong sense of injustice to see taped conversations in the media,'' he said. Prosecutors "misrepresented the meaning of my words, and excerpts of conversations were used totally out of context.''
There are about 76 wiretaps per 100,000 inhabitants each year in Italy, compared with 62 in the Netherlands and 0.4 in Canada, according the Munich-based Max Planck Institute.
The number of authorized targets more than tripled in the past five years, and cost the government more than 1.2 billion euros, according to the Justice Ministry. Telecom Italia gets about 15 million euros a year for making phone lines available to prosecutors, it said in a statement last year.
Wiretaps traditionally have been used primarily to investigate organized crime. In recent years, electronic eavesdropping has become more commonplace in political and corporate corruption cases.
The practice has given Italians a glimpse into the private lives of some of the country's best-known figures.
Fazio, Soccer
Newspaper readers last year were treated to conversations between Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio and Banca Popolare Italiana Scrl Chief Executive Officer Gianpiero Fiorani. Fiorani said he wanted to kiss Fazio's forehead for approving Popolare's takeover of another Italian lender, Banca Antonveneta SpA, a move that thwarted an international bid, according to the transcripts.
Fazio, 70, resigned last December amid a criminal investigation into his oversight of bank takeovers. He denies any wrongdoing and hasn't been charged with a crime.
Wiretaps also resulted in the country's biggest sports scandal in 25 years. Newspapers in May published transcripts of calls in which Juventus Football Club SpA General Manager Luciano Moggi sought to have friendly referees appointed to key games. A sports tribunal found Moggi guilty of match-fixing. Juventus was demoted to the second division and stripped of its past two league titles. Moggi denied the allegations.
Love Notes
"Love'' messages property mogul Stefano Ricucci received from his wife, actress Anna Falchi, made headlines last year. His phone was bugged to determine whether he breached securities laws when buying stakes in the publisher of Italy's biggest newspaper. Ricucci, 44, was jailed for four months on suspicion of securities manipulation. He hasn't been formally charged and denies any wrongdoing.
"It's not legitimate to ruin people's dignity for sheer gossip to boost newspaper sales,'' Francesco Pizzetti, president of the Italian privacy authority
, said in a July 7 speech to parliament.
The government in September proposed legislation that would make it harder for prosecutors to get approval for wiretaps and impose fines of as much as 60,000 euros for publishing classified parts of the transcripts.
The law "is an intimidation of the media,'' Lorenzo Del Boca, president of the Italian journalists' lobby, said in a Sept. 29 letter to Justice Minister Clemente Mastella. It's a "threat to the freedom of the press.''
Investigations
Another decree, approved by parliament Nov. 19, imposes fines of as much as 1 million euros on broadcasters who carry illegally taped conversations. Sanctions on print media are based on circulation.
The legislation followed a probe by Milan prosecutors into a spy ring that allegedly involved officials from the judiciary, secret services and former security managers at Telecom Italia.
Prosecutors say the accused conducted illegal investigations, abusing the company's security systems to gather and sell sensitive personal information, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Bloomberg News.
Telecom Italia isn't involved in any illegal practices, Chairman Guido Rossi said Oct. 5, after addressing a parliamentary committee on intelligence.
The government is investigating whether phone companies have violated laws protecting personal information.
"Our aim is to toughen the rules,'' said Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
By Marco Bertacche
----------------------------------------------------
Can I ask why they have "Italian Privacy Authority" when all these things happen there??
The late King Umberto II's 69-year-old son, who denies the charges, was among 30 million people in Italy whose phones were legally tapped in the past decade, according to Eurispes, a Rome research institute. Now prosecutors accuse former Telecom Italia SpA workers of illegally spying on politicians and executives.
The recent allegations united Prime Minister Romano Prodi and opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi behind legislation restricting the publication of taped phone calls. Italy is the most-bugged country in Europe and North America, according to a 2003 study by the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Crime Law.
"We need to guarantee the privacy of those who have nothing to do with the investigations,'' said Massimo Brutti, vice president of parliament's oversight committee for security and secret services. "There have been abuses in the past.''
Vittorio Emanuele's conversations were splashed across the pages of Italian newspapers after he was arrested June 16 on charges of criminal association, corruption and favoring prostitution. He was released after a week in jail and is awaiting trial.
`Sense of Injustice'
The investigation is an unfounded attack by "hidden powers,'' Vittorio Emanuele said in an e-mail.
"I felt a strong sense of injustice to see taped conversations in the media,'' he said. Prosecutors "misrepresented the meaning of my words, and excerpts of conversations were used totally out of context.''
There are about 76 wiretaps per 100,000 inhabitants each year in Italy, compared with 62 in the Netherlands and 0.4 in Canada, according the Munich-based Max Planck Institute.
The number of authorized targets more than tripled in the past five years, and cost the government more than 1.2 billion euros, according to the Justice Ministry. Telecom Italia gets about 15 million euros a year for making phone lines available to prosecutors, it said in a statement last year.
Wiretaps traditionally have been used primarily to investigate organized crime. In recent years, electronic eavesdropping has become more commonplace in political and corporate corruption cases.
The practice has given Italians a glimpse into the private lives of some of the country's best-known figures.
Fazio, Soccer
Newspaper readers last year were treated to conversations between Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio and Banca Popolare Italiana Scrl Chief Executive Officer Gianpiero Fiorani. Fiorani said he wanted to kiss Fazio's forehead for approving Popolare's takeover of another Italian lender, Banca Antonveneta SpA, a move that thwarted an international bid, according to the transcripts.
Fazio, 70, resigned last December amid a criminal investigation into his oversight of bank takeovers. He denies any wrongdoing and hasn't been charged with a crime.
Wiretaps also resulted in the country's biggest sports scandal in 25 years. Newspapers in May published transcripts of calls in which Juventus Football Club SpA General Manager Luciano Moggi sought to have friendly referees appointed to key games. A sports tribunal found Moggi guilty of match-fixing. Juventus was demoted to the second division and stripped of its past two league titles. Moggi denied the allegations.
Love Notes
"Love'' messages property mogul Stefano Ricucci received from his wife, actress Anna Falchi, made headlines last year. His phone was bugged to determine whether he breached securities laws when buying stakes in the publisher of Italy's biggest newspaper. Ricucci, 44, was jailed for four months on suspicion of securities manipulation. He hasn't been formally charged and denies any wrongdoing.
"It's not legitimate to ruin people's dignity for sheer gossip to boost newspaper sales,'' Francesco Pizzetti, president of the Italian privacy authority
, said in a July 7 speech to parliament. The government in September proposed legislation that would make it harder for prosecutors to get approval for wiretaps and impose fines of as much as 60,000 euros for publishing classified parts of the transcripts.
The law "is an intimidation of the media,'' Lorenzo Del Boca, president of the Italian journalists' lobby, said in a Sept. 29 letter to Justice Minister Clemente Mastella. It's a "threat to the freedom of the press.''
Investigations
Another decree, approved by parliament Nov. 19, imposes fines of as much as 1 million euros on broadcasters who carry illegally taped conversations. Sanctions on print media are based on circulation.
The legislation followed a probe by Milan prosecutors into a spy ring that allegedly involved officials from the judiciary, secret services and former security managers at Telecom Italia.
Prosecutors say the accused conducted illegal investigations, abusing the company's security systems to gather and sell sensitive personal information, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Bloomberg News.
Telecom Italia isn't involved in any illegal practices, Chairman Guido Rossi said Oct. 5, after addressing a parliamentary committee on intelligence.
The government is investigating whether phone companies have violated laws protecting personal information.
"Our aim is to toughen the rules,'' said Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni.
By Marco Bertacche
----------------------------------------------------
Can I ask why they have "Italian Privacy Authority" when all these things happen there??
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I agree about the right to privacy for the individual; the police should not be phone-tapping people unless they can prove that a crime has been/is being committed or have enough evidence to support phone tapping in order to obtain evidence of a crime. 
