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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando has said that €150 million would be invested in order to reform information and security services, including monitoring the PlayStation Network for terrorist communications [theregister.co.uk]:

Italian counter-terror agents are to monitor Sony's PlayStation Network for jihadi chatter, according to the nation's justice minister, following alarmingly silly reports that a PS4 was used to coordinate the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Andrea Orlando told [ilmessaggero.it] Italian broadsheet Il Messaggero that the government would be investing €150m (£105m) in a reformation of the nation's security services, with the aim of allowing them to monitor "any form of communication", with the PlayStation gaming console receiving specific attention.

The Italian plans follow an article in Forbes, cited by the Telegraph and the New York Times, which claimed [forbes.com], "An ISIS agent could spell out an attack plan in Super Mario Maker's coins and share it privately with a friend, or two Call of Duty players could write messages to each other on a wall in a disappearing spray of bullets."

That report, in turn, appears to have been prompted by statements made by the Belgian deputy prime minister, Jan Jambon. Jambon complained that Belgian security services and their international partners were unable to decrypt communications made through the PlayStation Network. Jambon reportedly claimed that "PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp" in this regard. His claims were made days before the attacks in Paris, however, and had to do with ISIS' general tactics.

Also at The Independent [independent.co.uk].

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