Who tapped the phones?
The week's news at a glance.
Athens
Somebody listened in on the cell phones of top Greek government officials and dozens of other people around the time of the 2004 Athens Olympics, the government confirmed last week. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his top ministers were all targeted, as were journalists, political activists, and a number of Arab residents. Vodafone Greece discovered illegal software installed in its system that allowed calls from certain phones to be recorded. The calls were reportedly beamed to an area in central Athens that includes the U.S. Embassy—a fact that has fueled conspiracy theories about U.S. espionage. Vodafone removed the software and reported the wiretapping to the government last March, but the scandal didn’t hit the Greek press until last week.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’
Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
By The Week US Published
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filter
The Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?
Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published