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Vas Panagiotopoulos@vaspanagiotopoulos.com |
197 followers 156 following 65 posts
Journalist interested in #pressfreedom & #digitalrights.
Words: insidestory.gr, rsf.or'>f.org'>rsf.org
Bylines: WI'>a>
Bylines: WIRED, Politico Europe, Quartz (own views)
vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Andrew Couts
@couts.bsky.social
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NEW: NSO Group, maker of the infamous Pegasus spyware, is trying to make a comeback, spending millions on lobbying Washington and positioning itself as essential for nation-state security. @vaspanagiotopoulos.com has the scoop www.wired.com/story/nso-gr...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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NSO Group's new transparency report arrives amid an apparent push by the spyware vendor to reverse 🇺🇸government blacklisting. To achieve its goal, the cyber-intelligence firm is conducting a 💰multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign.
Here's my latest for WIRED:👇
www.wired.com/story/nso-gr...
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Danny Mekić
@dannymekic.bsky.social
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Today @14:00, I will speak at Privacy Camp 2024 about the European Commission’s microtargeting ads to build support for mass surveillance and the role of the fundamental right to human dignity in protecting privacy and personal data.
The panel will be streamed live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3Ao...
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POLITICO Europe
@politico.eu
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Late tweaks to the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act will allow law enforcement to use facial recognition technology on recorded video footage without a judge’s approval. That’s going further than what was agreed, according to a European lawmaker.
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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🇪🇺European Media Freedom Act: the agreed-upon text lacks crucial safeguards against surveillance of journalists, which dangerously promote the use of #spyware in the EU, write EDRi's Chloé Berthélémy & Itxaso Domínguez. #EMFA
edri.org/our-work/cha...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The 🇪🇸 government has agreed to release secret documents on the tapping of the mobile phone of Catalan President & leader of the separatist party ERC Pere Aragonés by agents of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) using the #Pegasus spyware. #Catalangate
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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A planned 🇪🇺European law to protect media freedom is in danger of failing due to ongoing pressure from 🇫🇷France and six other states to allow spyware use against journalists. The 🇩🇪German Government has launched a last-minute rescue attempt.
www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/hardli...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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At 🇺🇳UN climate talks, cameras are everywhere. Many belong to Presight, a spun-off arm of the Abu Dhabi firm G42, an 🇦🇪Emirati company that's faced spying allegations for its ties to a mobile phone app identified as spyware.
abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...
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Ricardo Gutiérrez
@molenews1.bsky.social
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europeanjournalists.org/blog/2023/11...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Together with civil society partners the SHARE Foundation, Access Now, and the Citizen Lab, Amnesty International can reveal that sophisticated spyware is being used to target civil society in yet another European country – 🇷🇸Serbia.
securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2023/...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The use of spyware against journalists remains a key battleground in 🇪🇺European Media Freedom Act negotiations, writes International Press Institute's Head of Europe Advocacy Oliver Money-Kyrle.
euobserver.com/opinion/157729
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Shalev Hulio, former chief executive of the company behind the controversial Pegasus spyware, has raised a $33.6 million second round of funding for his startup, Tel Aviv-based Dream Security, amid the Israel-Hamas war.
www.wsj.com/articles/ex-...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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With 425 votes in favour, 108 against, and 23 abstaining, the 🇪🇺European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution on the lack of follow-up to Parliament’s proposals following its inquiry into the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware.
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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In the Exarcheia area of Athens, gentrification threatens to bring an end to a scene of alternative culture and protest that’s had a place in people’s hearts for decades.
www.politico.eu/article/viol...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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In the initial stages of the drafting of the legislation, 🇫🇷, backed by other member states, insisted that this could be justifiable in cases of “national security”. But press rights campaigners say governments’ main interest will be identifying sources of leaks.
www.theguardian.com/media/2023/n...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The widow of murdered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi has appealed a decision by a 🇺🇸Virginia federal court last month to dismiss a hacking lawsuit she filed against spyware maker NSO Group Technologies Ltd.
news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Rights activists & cybersecurity experts doubt NSO’s infamous #spyware tool could help locate the remaining Hamas kidnapping victims—& say 🇺🇸it’s unlikely will be swayed by the tech firm’s attempt to rehabilitate its tattered image.
www.fastcompany.com/90987722/nso...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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From January until June 2023 the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) recorded 575 media freedom violations in 🇪🇺European Union Member States and candidate countries, involving 844 individuals or media outlets.
www.mfrr.eu/monitoring-r...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Blacklisted 🇮🇱Israeli spyware company NSO Group is looking to make inroads with the 🇺🇸Biden administration amid the conflict in the Middle East, part of a larger effort to reverse sanctions against the company.
www.politico.com/newsletters/...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The European Center for Digital Rights @noybeu.bsky.social launched a complaint on 16/11 against the EU Commission w. the European Data Protection Supervisor for using microtargeting ads on X to promote its regulation on detecting child sexual abuse material online.
www.euractiv.com/section/law-...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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How an 🇮🇱Israeli cyber-surveillance kingpin and his attorney ex-wife exploited 🇨🇾Cypriot loopholes to build one of the world’s most notorious #spyware firms: Intellexa.
www.icij.org/investigatio...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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How 🇨🇾Cyprus rose to become the beating heart of the Putin regime’s shadow financial system - 🇷🇺Russia dominated the island’s banking system under the watch of the 🇪🇺European Union.
www.icij.org/investigatio...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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On 7 November, NSO Group, the 🇮🇱Israeli spyware company infamous for its Pegasus phone-tapping technology, sent an urgent email and letter by UPS to request a meeting with 🇺🇸Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials at the U.S. State Department.
theintercept.com/2023/11/10/n...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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🇮🇳Government-backed hackers tried to plant spyware made by NSO Group on the iPhone of an Indian journalist working for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in August, the organization’s co-founder said on Monday.
www.reuters.com/world/india/...
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Andrew Couts
@couts.bsky.social
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NEW: Say hi to the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023, which would overhaul police and FBI spying, particularly Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. @dell.bsky.social reports www.wired.com/story/govern...
1 replies 12 reposts 33 likes
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Thanasis Koukakis has been shortlisted for the 2023 Reporters Without Borders Award for #PressFreedom [Impact category] for shinning an intl. spotlight on the opaque surveillance industry network behind 🇬🇷's #PredatorGate, “🇪🇺’s biggest press freedom scandal in recent years.”
rsf.org/en/nominees-...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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“@mediapart.fr & its partners have revealed that the telephone no. of Grigoris Dimitriadis, nephew & former Sec General of PM Mitsotakis, was used to attack the telephones of 11 prominent 🇬🇷figures using #Predator spyware. The person concerned denies any involvement.”
www.mediapart.fr/journal/inte...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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❗️RSF strongly condemns the intentional paralysis of the #PredatorGate investigation by 🇬🇷authorities. The alarming summoning of ADAE watchdog members as suspects & the unexpected investigation transfer seem to be serious political obstructions.
rsf.org/en/predatorg...
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MORGAN MEAKER
@morganmeaker.bsky.social
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“This is a matter of principle,” developer Travis Brown says. “I think it is important that platforms like Twitter are not allowed to shut down criticism arbitrarily.” My latest 👇
www.wired.com/story/x-twit...
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Christophe Deloire
@cdeloire.bsky.social
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En reprenant l’expression de RSF, l’éditorial de @lemonde.fr
dénonce “la logique d'étouffement médiatique” perpétrée par Israël dans la région et cite notre enquête qui conclut au ciblage délibéré du reporter de Reuters Issam Abdallah et des journalistes de l'AFP et d'Al Jazeera au Liban le 13/10.
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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A forthcoming decision on the compliance of surveillance and security systems in 🇬🇷Greek refugee camps could set a precedent for how AI and biometric systems are deployed for ‘migration management’ in 🇪🇺Europe, writes @lydiaemman.bsky.social.
www.computerweekly.com/feature/Gree...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The NSO Group has hired DC-headquartered law firm Steptoe & Johnson to address national security & export control issues. One of the lobbyists on the account is Jeff Weiss, former deputy director for policy and strategic planning at the 🇺🇸Commerce Department.
thehill.com/lobbying/427...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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"I still remain in shock. Not an hour goes by that I don't think about it," Romain Chauvet told Efsyn.
"I knew the country was facing issues with press freedom, but I never thought that in a 🇪🇺state like 🇬🇷something like this could happen to a foreign journalist."
www.efsyn.gr/ellada/koino...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Obtained exclusively by @politico.eu, an obscure working group cooked up a document considering ways to overhaul the Parliament’s machinery in time for European elections in June 2024, writes @eddywax.bsky.social.
www.politico.eu/article/eu-p...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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“The gradual discovery of dozens of common surveillance targets by the legal wiretappings of the National Intelligence Service (EYP) & the illegal #Predator spyware set the course of the judicial investigation into the wiretappings scandal,” writes Vassilis Labropoulos in Ta Nea newspaper.
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Stefanos Kasselakis is the darling of 🇬🇷's media, with a celebrity status forged on social media. But how much of his carefully crafted image is real, wonders @egreechee.bsky.social.
www.wired.com/story/stefan...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The rapporteur for 1st spyware recommendations by EU Parliament, @sophieintveld.bsky.social, proposes to set up a 2nd PEGA inquiry -preferably before EU election- to keep investigating new developments & keep pressuring EU Commission, writes @maxgriera.bsky.social.
www.euractiv.com/section/poli...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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It is a first in 🇬🇷media history that such a sentence (6-month prison suspended for 3 yrs for disseminating false information) has been handed down to a foreign correspondent & a terrible signal to journalists, writes Fabien Perrier on Romain Chauvet's case.
www.liberation.fr/internationa...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Jamal Khashoggi's widow against NSO Group, finding that her allegations of phone-hacking in the months the before murder were not sufficiently connected to Virginia, where the lawsuit was filed.
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Amnesty's @donncha.is to 🇪🇺European Parliement's LIBE Committe on #spyware 🇺🇸Executive Order: “It has been a very strong signal that these companies pose severe risk of contributing to human rights violations, but its remains to be seen how effective it will be in practice.” youtu.be/Jv5lvwsFAiY
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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“He also spoke about being personally targeted by the government and top ruling party politicians, and highlighted the (constitutionally controversial) change to the composition of the Authority’s board, which has raised concerns about its functioning.”
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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🇬🇷Privacy watchdog head Chr. Rammos “defended his former collaborators in the Authority who are being prosecuted, ostensibly for doing their jobs.”
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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EP LIBE Committee: 🇬🇷Privacy watchdog ADAE head Christos Rammos referring to the prosecutions of his colleagues by justice: “It was a big shock for me. I can guarantee their absolute integrity. I am fully convinced that the prosecution will be very soon proven false & unfounded.”
youtu.be/PppDyxJLibU
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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🇪🇺Ylva Johansson, has confirmed the EU Commission
is investigating whether or not it broke recently updated digital governance rules when her department ran a micro-targeted political ad campaign aiming to drive support for #CSAR, writes @riptari.bsky.social.
techcrunch.com/2023/10/25/l...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The 🇬🇷wiretappings file was taken away from the two prosecutors who had been working on the case for the past 14 months. Could the delays in the progress of the case be due to fear of the government's reaction?
T. Telloglou & @etriantafillou.bsky.social think yes.
insidestory.gr/article/apok...
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Given that 🇮🇱has been one of the #spyware market leaders, the shift -combined with a lack of consequences for companies involved- is likely to make market more interesting for companies looking for customers in less savoury parts of 🌍, writes @politico.eu's Antoaneta Roussi
(& @eddywax.bsky.social).
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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Ylva Johansson on 🇪🇺EU Commission's micro-targeting campaign on X to push #CSA Regulation:
“It's run by my services & DG COMM. I am not involved in any specific design of this campaign.”
On its compliance w. #DSA:
“It has to be investigated & clarified.”
youtu.be/DYW2xKd_dWQ
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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..Reporters United present critical evidence below that proves otherwise:The intervention took place following a written order based on which privacy watchdog ADAE would immediately proceed with auditing the links between the intelligence service (& the govt) and #Predator. The audit never happened.
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Vas Panagiotopoulos
@vaspanagiotopoulos.com
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The intervention of the 🇬🇷Supreme Court Prosecutor in the progress of the #PredatorGate inquiry has been advertised by the prosecutor & the media as an upgrade that will save the wiretappings case from the statute of limitations.
However...
www.reportersunited.gr/11835/ypoklo...
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Lore Graf
@lrgrf.bsky.social
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I am anything but well-informed on the Commission's controversial Child Sexual Abuse proposal, but the more comes to light about how they push for it the scarier it gets. Thank you @vaspanagiotopoulos.com, @dannymekic.bsky.social and everyone who's working on this.
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