2011 Slovenian YouTube incident

The 2011 Slovenian YouTube incident was the publication of three clips of the recordings of closed sessions of the Government of Slovenia on the video-sharing website YouTube on 3 December 2011.[1] The clips were published under the title Stari obrazi (Old Faces) by someone who signed himself as stariobrazi (oldfaces).[2][3] The publication happened during the term of the Prime Minister Borut Pahor, just before the early 2011 Slovenian parliamentary election on 4 December.[4]

The first of the clips published was dated to 31 January 2008, when Janez Janša was the Prime Minister. The second and the third clip was dated to 23 April 2009, respectively 23 April and 30 April 2009, when Borut Pahor was the Prime Minister.[1] The original recordings were produced in audio and video.[5] They were stored on DVDs and locked in a safe available only to authorised personnel.[6] They were also available at home to three people via the Spectiva remote viewing software,[7] but due to their low quality, the probability of Spectiva being the source of the leaked data has been estimated as low, and it was not used during the term of Pahor's government.[8] Spectiva could be misused until July 2009.[9] It seems most probable that the recordings originated from the recording room or were transferred with additional equipment from the press room of the government; till 2009, sessions were broadcast live there so that extracts of resolutions could be made by the authorised personnel.[8]

Marjan Miklavčič, an expert in intelligence services and a lecturer at the University of Maribor, compared the publication to WikiLeaks. He particularly stressed that it was not known which data had been stolen and whether they could be used for extortion.[10] Iztok Prezelj, who lectures on intelligence at the University of Ljubljana, stated that the publication showed a parallel state to exist in Slovenia.[11] Miklavčič confirmed that all the data publicly available indicate the thesis about a parallel state to be correct.[12]

  1. ^ a b "Poročilo Generalnega sekretariata Vlade RS v zvezi z nezakonito objavo posnetkov sej vlad na spletnem portalu YouTube" [The Report of the Secretariat–General of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia Regarding the Illegal Publication of the Recordings of Government Sessions on the YouTube Web Portal] (in Slovenian). Government of the Republic of Slovenia. 26 January 2012.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Preiskava glede video posnetkov z zaprtih sej vlade" [The Investigation Regarding Video Recordings of the Closed Government Sessions] (in Slovenian). Demokracija. 9 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Zaupna seja na spletu" [A Confidential Session on the Web] (in Slovenian). Žurnal24.si. 9 December 2011.
  5. ^ "Neuradno: vladne seje so bile posnete dvakrat" [Unofficially: Government Sessions Have Been Recorded Twice] (in Slovenian). Delo.si. 14 December 2011. ISSN 1854-6544.
  6. ^ "Podtalna politična vojna" [Underground Political War] (in Slovenian). Dnevnik.si. 17 December 2011.
  7. ^ "Dostop do Spective naj bi imele tri osebe" [Three Persons are Supposed to Had Access to Spectiva]. Planet Siol.net (in Slovenian). TSmedia, medijske vsebine in storitve, d.o.o. 27 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Helena Kamnar: jezna sem" [Helena Kamnar: I'm Angry]. Mladina (in Slovenian). 8 February 2012.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Delo2012-09-02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Afera YouTube: Pahor je objektivno odgovoren in bi moral še enkrat odstopiti" [YouTube Affair: Pahor is Objectively Responsible and Should Step Down] (in Slovenian). MMC RTV Slovenia. 9 November 2011.
  11. ^ Dejan Karba (15 December 2011). "Pri posnetkih gre za nezaupnico varnosti v vladnih krogih" [The Recordings Are About A Motion of No Confidence To Security in Government Circles] (in Slovenian). Delo.si. ISSN 1854-6544.
  12. ^ Dejan Karba (16 December 2011). "Pustimo, da organi pregona opravijo svoje delo" [Let The Enforcement Agencies Do Their Job] (in Slovenian). Delo.si. ISSN 1854-6544.