January 2022 - Page 2 of 2

Albania Announces Four Arrests Over Massive Data Leaks

Posted on January 7, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The Prosecutor of Tirana, Elisabeta Imeraj, told the media on Friday that police had arrested four people in connection with the massive data leaks that have rocked Albania.

Two people from state institutions suspected of selling people’s personal data and two others from private entities suspected of buying it had been arrested.

“They are employed in the National Information Service Agency, but practice their profession in the General Directorate of Taxes”, she said referring to the two arrested from state institutions.

The Tirana prosecution in December started checking a list allegedly containing the personal data of hundreds of thousands of Albanian citizens which has been circulated on social media.

It was alleged that the data contained the monthly salaries, job positions, employer names and ID numbers of some 630,000 citizens, from both the public and private sectors for January 2021.

Another data leak of salaries for the month of April was released and circulated through WhatsApp just one day later.

It was followed by another data leak that contained private information about citizens’ car plates.

Experts told BIRN that these leaks pose public security questions.

In April 2021, a few days before elections, a database with the private information of around 910,000 voters in Tirana was leaked to the media.

It was claimed that the database belonged to the ruling Socialist Party and was taken from state institutions and used for electoral purposes.

The database, which BIRN has seen, contained some 910,000 entries including names, addresses, birth dates, personal ID cards, employment information and other data.

The Socialist Party denied wrongdoing, insisting that the information was gathered in door-in-door surveys. The case is still with the prosecution.

Kosovo Police Seize Crypto-Mining Equipment After Govt Ban

Posted on January 6, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

In two different operations in Mitrovica South and Podujeve municipalities, Kosovo Police seized 70 items of crypto-mining equipment as part of raids following the ban on crypto-mining announced by the government last week.

In the first operation, in Mitrovica South, 67 crypto-producing machines were confiscated, Police said they identified the location in an apartment where investigators found a suspect dealing with “illegal activity”

In the second case near Podujeve, police seized three pieces of crypto-mining equipment.

“We have informed Customs officials and we will take subsequent action in coordination with them,” a police press release said.

No actual arrests, in either case, were reported.

Last week’s decision by the government to ban cryptocurrency mining, citing concerns about energy in a country with an energy crisis, has drawn questions concerning its legal basis.

The Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, announcing the ban on cryptocurrency mining, referenced emergency measures for electricity protection imposed by the government on December 24, to “restrict the energy supply, valid for a maximum of 60 days”. The government implemented power reductions on December 22 due to the serious energy crisis.

But Arber Jashari, a Kosovo-based legal expert, told BIRN: “There is not enough of a legal basis for the ban of cryptocurrency mining, considering that no special law regulates this issue.”

While the government has the legal basis to take restrictive measures on electricity, there appears to be no legal framework to ban cryptocurrency mining.

On October 2021, Kosovo announced it had drafted a law on cryptocurrency which parliament was expected to adopt by the end of the last year – but the regulation is still pending.

The chairman of parliament’s Committee on Economy, Ferat Shala, was cited as saying that most activities related to cryptocurrency were registered in northern Serb-run parts of Kosovo.

This phenomenon in the north, and associated energy costs, according to him, had pushed the committee to accelerate the drafting of a law to regulate the sector.

“The good thing about this is that all operators in this sector will know that we are working and monitoring and that at some point they will be subject to applicable law,” he was quoted as saying.

BIRN previously reported on how attics, basements, garages and even whole houses in Serb-majority northern Kosovo were being rented out for cryptomining, mainly because for 22 years, northern Kosovo has paid nothing for electricity, the vital component of crytomining.

One local crypto-miner told Reuters on condition of anonymity that “he was paying around 170 euros per month for electricity, and getting around 2,400 euros per month in profit from mining”.

Platform B – Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience

Posted on January 6, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Together with our partners, BIRN is launching a series of online and offline events aimed at amplifying the voices of strong and credible individuals and organisations in the region that promote the core values of democracy, such as civic engagement, independent institutions, transparency and the rule of law.

As a primarily media organisation, we want to open space and provide a platform to discuss and reshape our alliances in light of the challenges facing democracies in Southeastern and Central Europe.

This comes at a critical time when the region is seeing several troubling trends towards: centralized power, reduced transparency, assaults on media, politicized judiciaries, unchecked corruption, online violations and social polarization – all amid heightened geopolitical tensions and divisions in Europe.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Platform B event series will be organised with respect for with all relevant health measures. As the situation improves, we hope to be able to host some of the events in BIRN spaces in Sarajevo and Belgrade, and elsewhere in the region.

Platform B will be an opportunity for individuals and groups to meet monthly on selected topics.

Illustration. BIRN/Igor Vujcic

Next event: Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience

Date: January 14, 2022 (Friday)

Time: 3pm-4.30pm CET

At this event, BIRN will present the main findings of its report on the position of female journalists in the Balkans, Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience.

The report highlights trends, opportunities and obstacles, identified through the sharing of experiences and perspectives by women working in the media, to paint a more nuanced and complex picture of women’s role in newsrooms, news-making and regional societies more broadly. When it comes to women journalists, prevailing narratives have focused almost exclusively on online violence and women’s vulnerability, rather than on the systems that make this type of abuse prevalent, normalized and even profitable.

This report, and accompanying platform, is an attempt to paint a picture that is more nuanced – to address the intersecting identities and diverse experiences that actually characterize women’s media – and newsrooms more specifically – and their participation and representation in the Balkans.

The report includes in-depth interviews with more than 20 female journalists, editors, fact-checkers, editor-in-chiefs and activists as well as a broad data collection, comprising a total of 175 responses BIRN obtained through an online survey conducted in October and November 2021.

Together with the authors and regional journalists and gender equality experts, we will reflect on the findings of BIRN’s report and offer some recommendations to regional media outlets, journalists’ unions and institutions on how to advance women’s positions in the newsrooms and stop perceiving them as victims but as agents of change.

A complete list of panelists is to be published soon.

Upon registration you will receive a Zoom link.

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