According to Albanian media, a document containing personal information of over 600,000 Albanian citizens, including their monthly salary and personal ID number, has been circulating online and through WhatsApp. Apparently, all the Albanian media has been focused on this so-called big scandal. Considering that I am an Albanian citizen, I find it legitimate to give my opinion on this.
First, it is impossible to verify if the document is genuine. Only the Government can do this verification, and I am inclined to believe that the information in it is not accurate in its entirety.
Second, we should know that the modern state, which is a product of not a few decade experience but centuries, is based on the strict monopoly of information. Therefore, the breach of data would constitute a crime which reaches the levels of high treason, and the punishment for it, as we all know, is death penalty, even in countries where death penalty has been abolished. There are other ways of carrying it out. This is to say that if there is some leak, it is not an accident at all.
To reiterate, if there is a certain true leak of date in the modern state, all those responsible for this case would have been caught by now and most probably hanged, but, in my view, it is impossible for that to happen. Individuals who have that type of access have gone through high levels of security check, let alone in a country such as Albania which has a notorious level of control.
Third, if the document is genuine, this massive leak of data is not done by accident or as an individual type of work. It is completely controlled and done on purpose – if it is true; however, I suspect that it is prepared just for public consumption.
Forth, Albania is a member of NATO; for this reason, the chance to have this level of data breach is even smaller.
What is the reason behind this document?
Politics can never been understood fully from the point of view of an outsider. The reason could be entirely different from what we think. Probably it is supposed to intimidate people, distract them from another problem. Who knows? Again, it could be done for reasons that we cannot even think of. Maybe to give the impression that the State is weak and the level of control is low, while in reality it is just the opposite.
In addition, Albania is a country used for political experimentation, so this could have been done to see how people react, before applying it in a major country. This could be another reason.
In any case, everything is done under full control of the State. Definitely, there is no accident or unauthorized data leak. The cornerstone of the modern state is information, which means, data leak is almost impossible to happen.
The document circulating online, either it doesn’t contain genuine information or it is not important.
Sabri Lushi
