John Dalli changes his story – he didn’t report ‘hacking’ to the police, he says now
Yesterday, the print and broadcast media were awash with John Dalli’s claim, made to journalists on the record and in the street, that his email account had been hacked and that he has gone to the police with the IP numbers of those who hacked it, which he has reason to believe belong to people in the Nationalist Party.
timesofmalta.com carried this story with prominence, and carried a more elaborate version in its print edition this morning, written by Kurt Sansone who joined that newspaper straight from the stable at Malta Today.
It included something new – a particularly outrageous claim by John Dalli.
Mr Dalli had alleged his e-mail was hacked after he turned down a request by former EU ambassador and party strategist Richard Cachia Caruana to support him.
Neither the print nor the original online version carried Cachia Caruana’s view, even though it was incumbent on the reporter to obtain it and include it in the story. This is one of the most fundamental, basic rules of journalism.
That response must have arrived unsolicited at The Times at some point today, because it was used to update the earlier version.
Refuting the allegation, Mr Cachia Caruana said: “The suggestion is utterly absurd and senseless.”
I went off to the beach, and when I returned, there had been some mysterious developments. The story had disappeared from timesofmalta.com, but still showed up as a ‘hidden’ version when searched for using the key words: kurt sansone john dalli hacking email account richard cachia caruana
For the record, and just in case it is permanently deleted, here’s the relevant part.
The Times, Saturday, July 21, 2012
by Kurt Sansone
John Dalli gives names of e-mail hackers to police
European Commissioner John Dalli has filed a police report with the names of people in the Nationalist Party he believes hacked his e-mail account.
Mr Dalli had a private meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi last Thursday and gave him the names of the individuals.
Mr Dalli had alleged his e-mail was hacked after he turned down a request by former EU ambassador and party strategist Richard Cachia Caruana to support him.
Refuting the allegation, Mr Cachia Caruana said: “The suggestion is utterly absurd and senseless.”
A special session of the PN executive on Tuesday unanimously shot down a request by former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to expel Mr Cachia Caruana.
Testifying during the proceedings via teleconference, Mr Dalli spoke of an attempted hacking of his e-mail.
Speaking yesterday during a visit to the abattoir, Mr Dalli refused to name the individuals or say whether they held any particular posts within the party. “They are members of the PN,” he said.
In a short statement, the Prime Minister said he hoped the police would conclude their investigations in a short time and the findings would be made public.
And now just look at this, and place it in the context of The Times removing their story rather than updating it with Dalli’s fresh farce.
I flipped over to Malta Today and found that in a story uploaded at around 3pm, Dalli now claims that he never said he had gone to the police with the names and IP numbers of those he thinks hacked him.
Now he’s saying that it was “blogs” that he complained about to the police. Malta Today even put the word ‘Blogs’ in the heading. But when I read the story, it was obvious that what he meant wasn’t blogs at all, but the comments which random people post on comments-boards like that of timesofmalta.com and others.
Apparently, he was upset by some of those comments, thinking them offensive, and he complained about them to the police. Thin skin, eh – imagine if he were me. What would he do – commit suicide?
The people at Malta Today know perfectly well the difference between a blog and a comment on a comments-board. They know that this website, for instance, is a blog and that the mad and rabid things which random people write beneath the online stories on Malta Today are not blogs but comments.
Dalli probably doesn’t know the terminology because he’s of that generation and doesn’t strike me as being particularly clued up. But Malta Today, instead of correcting his choice of term, disingenuously quoted him as saying ‘blogs’ – the obvious intention being that they wish to carry on with their Evil Blogger of Wardija disinformation campaign.
All this, of course, is extremely serious.
Here we have an EU commissioner, no less, who first tells the media that his email account has been hacked and that he has the IP numbers and names of those who hacked it, and that he has taken them to the police. This was an obvious lie to anybody who knows a bit about the relevant law and technology, but he further compounded it by specifying that the hackers were in the Nationalist Party and that they hacked him after he refused to show public support for Richard Cachia Caruana.
Within the space of 24 hours – and probably after he read my piece on the subject, posted here, saying that he had to break the law to get any names even if it were possible to do so in the first place – he claimed that he never said anything of the sort, that he complained about ‘blogs’, and then The Times very obligingly takes down its story.
Here’s what Dalli told Malta Today.
Dalli reported blogs, not hacking attempt, to police
Miriam Dalli
Over a month ago, European Commissioner John Dalli asked the Police to investigate a series of anonymous blogs that had attacked him some time in February when his name was being floated as a possible candidate for the party leadership.
Dalli confirmed the news with MaltaToday this morning.
“I went to the Police to report these blogs. At the time of the blogs, there was also a person going around with cards in hand urging people to read these blogs,” Dalli said.
“I have an indication of who is behind these attacks, but I want the Police to get to them.”
Meanwhile, this e-newspaper has sent questions to Police Commissioner John Rizzo over the case.
Dalli has also said that he has an email correspondence in hand that shows that “organised group directed by someone” are behind the blogs.
During the 25-minute teleconference he had with the PN executive on Tuesday that cleared Richard Cachia Caruana of any “collusion” with Labour, Dalli read out the correspondence, omitting the names.
He has reportedly passed on this information directly to the Prime Minister.
During the same meeting, Dalli also revealed that on Wednesday, 11 July, he was specifically asked by Cachia Caruana to issue a statement in his favour, but that he declined.
He then said that on Thursday, 12 July – the next day – he found that his email domain had been hacked in an attempt at replicating his email traffic, and claimed the hacking originated from an IP address that was directly linked to the group fomenting anonymous attacks on him.
MaltaToday could not establish whether these two observations were linked.
Dalli today also confirmed with MaltaToday that he has so far not asked the Police to investigate the hacking attempt.
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The Times also reported the PM as having said on Radio 101:
“Dr Gonzi also referred to his meeting with EU Commissioner John Dalli and stated he trusted the Commissioner of Police blindly to investigate the names of alleged hackers passed on to him but he wanted the result of that investigation to be made public.”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120721/local/no-luxury-to-concentrate-just-on-internal-matters-pm.429511
The PM would not have mentioned hacking of emails unless Dalli actually reported it to the police.
I think that Dalli has realised he made a big mistake and he is trying to patch it up.
However, this is serious.
He has to explain how he got the names linked to IP numbers, if he did so at all, because as you said, this is an offence. This is not the end of the story.
I hope that John Dalli doesn’t get away with this one. He must explain himself clearly and so must the police.
When accusations are thrown at Lawrence Gonzi, it seems to be OK, but a gaffe/serious ‘mistake’ like this one shouldn’t simply fade away from our attention.
Does anyone know who Sabrina’s clone is, at The Times?
Ara veru li xi whud minn dawn il-politici ma ghandhomx zejt f’wicchom. Kif ma jisthux jidhru quddiem in-nies?
Since John Dalli lost the leadership race it seems that he also lost his habit of saying the truth.
So, in trying to put more pressure on the PM, John Dalli slips up badly and ends up taking on the heat in the process.
Why has the Commissioner “not asked the police to investigate the hacking attempt”?
That’s a far more serious accusation than mere abusive comments.
Ara veru Gonzi ghandu pacenzja infinita biex joqghod jissaporti dawn il-pantomini.
Xi kultant nghid bejni u bejn ruhi kif nies bhal dawn imexxu pajjizi u organizzazjinijiet kbar u mportanti u jithallsu eluf kbar ta’liri min flusna li nkunu qlajna b’sagrificji kbar.
If it is true that first he said that he reported this serious crime and now he says that he did not, then this is tantamount to lying. Most of us are not idiots and can read between the lines.
And why exactly is it scandalous? I am sure deep down you know that his accusations are very true!
[Daphne – On the contrary, I know that he is talking absolute rot. I work on the internet, remember (besides being at least 20 years his junior and more in tune with these things) and know what I’m talking about. Another question that needs to be asked: which email account is he claiming was hacked? His official one? His personal one? What does he use? We should be told.]
And Guido De Marco on the national television station said that John Dalli is an “unpolished diamond”.
I don’t think Dr.De Marco would be pleased now.
Has Barrosso been notified of these events?
Has the international or at least the Brussels-based press been notified? They are pretty good at this stuff.They are always looking for a story.
Guido de Marco’s legacy also includes: (i) Manuel Mallia, (ii) Anglu Farrugia, and (iii) Brigadier Calleja and his son Menrad Calleja. By now we can all assume that Guido de Marco did not have a good judgement of character.
Once again, this is like the story of Libya, when Johnny Dalli was misinterpreted by the press.
It has happened again, you see. It is all the fault of the press and the evil journalists. They are engaged in a click against Johnny Dalli.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Dalli-claims-misinterpretation-over-Libya-comments
“But when contacted yesterday he neither confirmed nor denied the allegation. “What was leaked from the executive is the responsibility of whoever leaked it, but what I said in the executive is confidential and I have always respected that confidentiality. I will neither confirm nor deny,” he said.”
John Dalli, when contacted by The Times.
So what does that make of The Times and MaltaToday journalists?
First we had Franco saying that more than three PN members of parliament are against Gonzi’s leadership – no names divulged. Now we have Dalli saying he knows aho hacked his e-mails – again no names divulged.
Viva l-gideb.
DID THE EU COMMISSIONER MAKE THESE ALLEGATIONS WHILST ON AN OFFICIAL DUTY AS AN EU COMMISSIONER?
IF SO, IT IS HIGHLY IMPROPER AND BRUSSELS SHOULD BE INFORMED.
I think Dalli is a f**king wanker. And that’s another T-shirt slogan.
This man should not be taken seriously.
Once again he’s been caught telling porkies.
He has wasted police time and public funds by making false allegations.
In other EU countries this is a crime punishable by a term in prison. He has insulted our intelligence once too often. A politician not be trusted.