
Bugged recordings of prominent Turks are appearing almost every day - cturhan
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/70baf32a-9d43-11e3-83c5-00144feab7de.html#axzz2uLysvx00
======
unwind
Meta: It's weird that the 'i' in "Voice" in the title is not actually an 'i',
but instead U+0131 (LATIN SMALL LETTER DOTLESS I
[http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0131/index.htm](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0131/index.htm)). 
It doesn't appear in the actual article's title, so I guess it's just a typo. 

~~~
cturhan
Dotless i is very common in Turkish.  I use both English and Turkish keyboard. 
When I was typing, I forgot to switch to English ( Shift + Alt) so I typed as
ı. 

~~~
ebiester
I always wondered why they didn't put the dotted i in the same spot as the
English keyboard and move the undotted I to the pinky where the i is. 

(I've done the same thing.) 

------
r0h1n
In Turkey it's apparently open season for all sorts of "bootleg" recordings of
prominent figures, per this FT article today [0]

> Bugged recordings of some of the most prominent people in national life are
> appearing almost every day, although coverage in the Turkish media rather
> depends on the political loyalties of the outlet in question. 

> Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister for more than a decade, said this month
> that “everybody” in Turkey had been wiretapped – he himself, President
> Abdullah Gul, executives and journalists – for purposes of blackmail.  Rather
> endearingly, Mr Erdogan uses 1980s terminology to refer to such recordings,
> calling them “cassettes”.  But the recordings are available on the internet
> and are notified to the world via Twitter. 

> They cast a striking picture of the prime minister and his business and
> political allies: in several recordings Mr Erdogan appears to instruct a
> friendly media executive on how the news should be presented (less coverage
> of the opposition is the basic message).  Others appear to be cuttings from
> an anti-corruption probe of government-connected figures that Mr Erdogan’s
> administration has in effect halted. ( All those concerned protest their
> innocence; while some say the tapes have been manipulated, the prime
> minister says the recordings have invaded his privacy.) 

> Tapes have also surfaced of Mr Erdogan’s current arch-enemy, an Islamic
> preacher called Fethullah Gulen, talking to lieutenants in business and the
> media.  The leaks are part of a war between Mr Erdogan and Mr Gulen’s
> movement, which has adherents across Turkish society and in key
> institutions. 

> On Monday a government-affiliated newspaper published the names of about
> 7,000 people – including government officials and media figures – whose
> phones it says were tapped at the request of Gulenist prosecutors. 
> Meanwhile, Gulenists say that new government proposals to boost the powers
> of Turkey’s intelligence agency – and facilitate wiretaps – will turn Turkey
> into a surveillance state. 

[0]
[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/70baf32a-9d43-11e3-83c5-00144...](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/70baf32a-9d43-11e3-83c5-00144feab7de.html)

------
Zigurd
It will be interesting to see if any governments ever conclude that the only
way to win is not to play the game: Instead of trying to play the same game as
the Big Boys they decide that they would rather be snooped on less than to do
more snooping themselves. 

So, instead of going through the exercise of trying to keep their own people
in the panopticon while pulling some futile curtain around it all, they give
their government, industry, and perhaps even the people tools to avoid
snooping. 

I'm sure the usual suspects will be here to say this is also futile, but at at
the very least it's different from obvious futility. 

------
glasz
if i were a turk, i'd be very wary about all this. 

looking at the fiasco in the ukraine, i can see how some powers are looking to
engage the local mob to bring just another government to its knees.  as big
parts (portugal, spain, france, italy, ireland, greece) are effectively
bankrupt, living on wellfare of the rest of the union, the eu is very, very
eager to extend its reach into eastern territory -- by all means. 

turks, ukrainian fellows and all other potential guinea pigs: don't get sucked
into something you'll complain about as not having seen coming. 

------
BugBrother
Phone/email/etc are too easy to use -- and to crack when all the resources of
freelancers, states and police forces get involved. " All discussions are
shallow"? :-) 

One problem is an increase in the ability to convincingly create faked photos
and phone recordings? 

Here, it is obviously parts of a state against other parts.  Informative
insight. 

Is this the future of political "argumentation" in [half
authoritarian/corrupt] regimes?  And in how business deals will be done --
blackmail?  Or, if fakes get impossible to detect, the end of trustworthy
recorded history? 

------
snorkel
... so they're talking Turkey? 

Yeah, down vote me, you're just jealous that you didn't post it first!