Published: 25 May, 2009, 20:44
Edited: 25 May, 2009, 20:44
A webcam installed in the office of the mayor of the Estonian capital malfunctioned because city hall’s computer server became overloaded by those interested in watching how the mayor’s work is carried out.
Starting on the morning of May 25, the mayor’s office in Tallinn announced that a webcam would provide pictures of mayor Edgar Savisaar’s office in real time on a 24-hour basis. But just hours after the service began, it failed due to an apparent equipment overload.
A soundless video image was supposed to be broadcast live on Tallinn’s web site for free access by the population. Currently, Estonian IT specialists are working on returning the service for internet viewing.
Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician and the leader of the Centre Party, says the decision to install the camera was made about a month ago when a “12 MHz bug” was discovered in the mayor’s office.
Savisaar said he wanted to “help” those spying on him and give them a picture to add to the audio they already receive for free. He also said he is not interested in who is responsible for the wiretaps, whether they are rival politicians or journalists.
“Urban management must be public so we decided to help these people,” proclaimed Savisaar.
Today, electronic bugs emitting permanent radio signal are believed to be outdated, easy to detect and not used by professionals.
Another interesting detail is that Savisaar announced the news about the wiretapping of his office on the day when an international conference of parliamentary commissions on supervising special services activities began in Tallinn. Experts and analysts from 19 countries, including the US, Germany and France, are taking part in it.
This is not the first scandal over wiretapping in the Tallinn mayor’s office. On November 7, 2008 video surveillance cameras recorded two men with briefcases inside the city hall building at nighttime, when the building was supposed to be locked and have its security alarm activated. Russian espionage was widely considered the most probable reason for the presence of the men. Russians were suspected of compromising the alarm system to wiretap the mayor’s office.
But the men turned out to be agents of Estonia’s secret service who had not been authorized to break into city hall in order to… dismantle bugs installed there earlier. The Minister of the Interior and ex-head of the secret service, Jüri Pihl, was forced to admit it was Estonian secret agents seen on the cameras. Pihl called the agents actions “careless and naïve”.