Spyware threatens to pierce Vatican walls

[emad]

Monday, April 11, 2005 · Last updated 3:07 a.m. PT

Spyware threatens to pierce Vatican walls

By AIDAN LEWIS AND JIM KRANE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS

VATICAN CITY -- Computer hackers, electronic bugs and supersensitive microphones threaten to pierce the Vatican's thick walls next week when cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to name a papal successor.

Spying has gotten a lot more sophisticated since John Paul was elected in 1978, but the Vatican seems confident it can protect the centuries-old tradition of secrecy that surrounds the gathering.

"It's not as if it's the first conclave we've handled," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Vatican security refused to discuss the details of any anti-bugging measures to be used during the conclave. But Giuseppe Mazzullo, a private detective and retired Rome policeman whose former unit worked closely with the Vatican in the past, said the Holy See will reinforce its own experts with Italian police and private security contractors.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Pope%20Spying

[htuttle]

1. I wonder if those Cardinals have to take their hats off....

...in order to fit under the Cone of Silence™?

[Voltaire99]

2. Hee hee, good one.

[MADem]

3. An old joke that I heard from a Vatican official, years ago

What do you say to an Italian in a hundred mille (lire) hat?

Ans: Good day, your Eminence.

He was Italian, a sharp dresser, too!