Every week before I write my little article I discover that life is full of surprises and that is why this week I choose to talk about the paradox we find at every step, even in the legal world.
What comes first to mind when you think about a prison? You probably picture a grimm place, with high walls, with strict rules where bad people go in order to keep them from commiting crimes and having access to the outside world. Basically a prison is a regulated place where the authorities have a strong surveillance of everything that goes around. Not this week it isn’t. The DIICOT prosecutors descended into 4 prisons with search warrants in pursue of a group of detainees that was making an illegal living straight from jail. The group used mobile phones, which by the way are not a prison facility, to contact their victims and beguile them into handing over their money. After this episode the prison authorities decided that finding the hidden mobile phones in prison is a top priority in achieving maximum security. I have to say that is a good plan but I cannot stop wondering why nobody thought of the readiest way to solve this problem. Wouldn’t it be logical to have a system that insures no forbidden object enter the prison than playing hide and seek in the chambers?
And because prison is such a free place where everyone can go on with their illegal business Targu Mures Appeal Court decided that the former head prosecutor of Sighisoara’s Prosecutor’s Office can serve a 3 months sentence in the grimm surroundings of his own home where maybe he has no gsm signal. For those who don’t know the entire story the former prosecutor was indicted for forgery and using false documents in accessing European funds.
Moving to more serious things, a lot of people talked about the ACTA treaty in the last few weeks, me included. Now the treaty is suspended pending deliberation by the European Court of Justice, mainly as a result of public pressure. I wondered some time ago if the romanian authorities had any idea what they were signing regarding ACTA and the lack of general concern or public distress made me believe that neither the authorities nor the population are interested in the legislation or the internet. But this week reality proved me wrong as Dacian Ciolos, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, assured us that having fast internet access in rural areas is an important goal for the officials and that european funding must be used in the implementation of this kind of programmes. So after all we are a country that went all speed ahead into the Internet Era; the sad part is that all the rest of the rural life was left in the dark ages. For me, as an individual hooked on mobile phones and being connected all the time, having broadband internet while hiking is close to perfect but I cannot answer the following question: what will those people with no electricity, no school, no hospital, nu utilities, do with a lot of cable full of information?
