Ministry moves in on pedophiles
The Justice Ministry is preparing a new law to provide authorities investigating child abuse suspects with extra power in a move that will bring legislation in line with international practices. The ministry said a lawmaking committee has put together a bill allowing police to obtain confidential information from telecom and Internet companies on suspects. «The ministry has as a priority reforming and boosting the institutional framework for safeguarding communications confidentiality and the fight against new forms of criminal behavior,» it said in a statement. The head of the police unit against electronic crime, Manolis Sfakianakis, said earlier this week that scores of pedophiles go unpunished due to an outdated privacy law whereby Internet service providers are not obliged to reveal the identity of suspected pedophiles. According to Sfakianakis, authorities have a similiar problem preventing online suicides; police are forced to improvise by gleaning hints from user name details.
