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About The Authorship Of The Infamous "Greek Reforms" Memo
Following the earlier report that the Greek reforms memo contained something very unexpected in the "Author" field of its metadata properties, namely that it wasn't the name of the Greek finance minister, but a European Commission (ECFIN) bureaucrat Declan Costello...
... there has been a flurry of outrage from all sides, all quite understandable, because if indeed it wasn't the Greeks who created the memo then it merely confirms that Greece not only has no stated sovereignty, but it isn't even permitted to draft its own memos.
What the apologists of this phenomenon claim is that the "Author" of the pdf document is not the creator of the Doc file but the person who received the Doc file and converted it to pdf. A perfectly reasonable explanation, and one that would make sense: after all Yanis Varoufakis may have simply sent to the European Commission his final word document, which was then converted to a pdf for broad distribution.
There is only one problem with this explanation: it is wrong.
The reason it is wrong is because the metadata of pdf files follows the creator of the original doc file, not the creator of the pdf file.
Quick example: say "Tyler Durden", the default creator of word files on a computer, were to draft a blank memo...
Then naturally, the doc file would show in its properties the creator was, logically, "Tyler Durden"
Let's change the default to a random user, say "European Commission Bureaucrat"
Then draft a brief memo "signed" by a Greek finance minister...
... then save it, and proceed to convert it to a pdf.
What the pdf will show, regardless if the default user "Tyler Durden", or anyone else for that matter, converts the doc file into a pdf, is that the author is the specific user who created the doc file, in this case "European Commission Bureaucrat" and not the default pdf owner/author. This is because the pdf creation metadata follow the creator of the original underlying file, not the creator of the pdf: there is no break in the chain of authoriship/ownership just because someone else took one's doc and made it into a pdf.
In other words, the generic "explanation" by those who wish to make it seem that it may well have been Varoufakis who drafted the doc file but it was simply some European Commission bureaucrat who converted it, falls apart.
To be sure, it is distinctly possible that someone hard-changed the actual "authorship" metadata after the fact, but that would make matters even worse.
Of course, it is impossible to know if the doc file was created in Brussels as a blank then sent to Vaourfakis to fill out and convert to pdf, but that would also be a very problematic explanation. There are also many other explanations which may validly ascribe ownership of some/all of the created content to the Greek FinMin, and creation of the doc file to the Troika, which we leave to readers to pursue.
Perhaps what is most amazing about this who situation, is how few so-called "journalists" were unaware of any of the above, but were quick to dismiss the entire fiasco simply by saying the ECFIN guy converted the pdf and that's why he was the "author."
In conclusion, that there is a very simple resolution to all of this: Declan Costello, who is named as the author of the "Greek" memo, should state publicly whether or not he drafted, saved and made into a pdf the doc file with the Greek reforms, or if his name appears in the metadata purely by accident. Considering the amount of consternation that this issue appears to have generated, it would certainly bring the topic to a prompt closure.
And after all, isn't the whole point of "reporting" is to get to the bottom line, especially when the implications are substantial as in this case, and not to dismiss anything, however strange it may be, as merely too strange to investigate because it "just doesn't make sense." Unless, of course, one has prior advertising arrangements with HSBC, or the European Commission, or perhaps some of its countless financial backers. In which case we, too, are perfectly happy to let this whole topic go especially if there is no public interest in it whatsoever.
Finally, for anyone who is involved in the creation, drafting, and production of mission-critical documents, whose metadata can have huge downstream consequences, the best solution is to simply read the brief manual on Redaction of Confidential Information in Electronic Documents which nobody ever does at least not before they hint save, print or send...
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Greece is the time, is the place, is the motion
Greece is the way we are feeling. Greece is the word!
Why would any government or major institution send a Word document, unprotected, anyway? That's the only explanation for the authorship trail to be broken, is if the EU changed something, but then the question remains: Why would anyone send a vital document unprotected in Word?
This was written by the EU.
Missing the obvious alternative: The Greeks simply pirated their word processing software from the EU!
Ummm, I humbly re-submit my thesis from a comment earlier this same day...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-24/troika-happy-revised-list-greek...
These clowns get paid by the word.
The way to end this mess is just to say the Brussels guy was dick-taster to, I mean dictated to by the Greeks over the phone.
Or was it the other way around.
I just tried it with Word 2013, PDFCreator latest on Windows 8.1 and the "author" metadata field is populated by default as the user who creates the pdf, not the docx - meaning metadata of pdf files doesn't (necessarily) follow the creator of the original doc file. I used extractmetadata.com to view pdf metadata. (You can test easily be switching to another Windows account before creating respective files).
PS: the European/Greek pdf was created with Acrobat PDFMaker 9.1 for Word
He started with a form document that was created by someone else. Not rocket science. Been there, done that. But that's why they should be working with a good law firm--they all use software that strips out this kind of meta-data. But, it was probably just Varoufakis sitting at this desk, pulling this out of his ass as he typed it up.
My favorite line is in the 2nd paragraph of his letter. "In addition to codifying its reform agenda, in accordance with PM Tsipras’ programmatic statement to Greece’s Parliament, the Greek government also..."
That sentence basically means: everything in the attached 7 pages is modified by/conditioned on the PM's speech to the Greek parliament, which, as we all know, was in large part unacceptable to the "institutions." High comedy, if the whole thing weren't so not funny.
Also, if you saw Varoufakis interview with Christianne Amanpour Monday, he said "We will be submitting our official list tomorrow morning." It was pretty clear to me upon hearing that, that Greece submitted their "un"official list to the ECB for review and comment, prior to submitting their "official" list to the remainder of the Fin Mins on Tuesday. That would explain why they were using word: to exchange redlines. That was good political process, and allowed Greece to redo their initial list privately. I saw reports saying their initial list only 3 pages long. I'm sure that was all in an attempt by Greece to maximize the "constructive ambiguity" of what are essentially Syriza's first substantive promises to the institutions.
@ml8_ml8
And the REALLY great thing is, if the Greek people don't like the deal that Syriza cuts with the ECB, IMF, and EU, they can just vote in a new party who can DK everything done by Syriza and renegotiate everything all over again!
I'm scratching my head over that, too. Not even I send word docs to people. ALWAYS PDF it before you send (I use PDF995, which works well and costs nothing). Look at the file info and you see my name.
I think this explains how the document mysteriously showed up the stroke before midnight on Monday instead of falling into Tuesday.
It also explains why Germany and the Troika DIDN'T instantly throw up all over it, as was widely expected (including on ZH).
If you do not understand people who use Word, then understanding why they would send an unprotected one is futile. Does the term "stupid shit" in reference to them mean anything to you??
Dear Yanis:
As we have repeatedly requested, please sign & return "Greece's Pledge" that we have prepared & forwarded to you, as soon as possible.
If we do not receive executed document by close of business Monday, February 23, 2015, we will execute said document on your behalf, anyways, as we already have your signature on file.
Sincerely,
The European Commission
cc: IMF & BIS
Dear Yanis:
We funded the SYRIZA campaign. Now sign the fucking document.
Sincerely,
The European Commission
cc: IMF & BIS
you tell em tyler, stoopid dumb fucks.
I would advise Greek People to vote more next time... in case 'voting' works...
No cause really who didn't catch yet that 'election' is just who is gonna be the new supervisor of the plantation!
And there is no way the owner will let any one to be elected if he is a threat to his asset. Period.
Now vote harder... you never know
Greece was still running a primary budget deficit in December & January. This means that the government was/is still borrowing money to fund their day-to-day activities. So they don't have the luxury of telling their creditors to take a hike.
If they did they would immediately have to balance their budget which would mean cutting spending further and causing more austerity. Which is the opposite of what they promised to do to get elected. Hence, to keep their election promise they can't default on their debt. Which I'm sure they would like to.
So they are caught between a rock and a hard place.
my neighbor's mother makes $86 /hr on the computer . She has been laid off for 10 months but last month her pay was $21128 just working on the computer for a few hours. go to the website... www.globe-report.com
Let Tyler Durden write your letter - you know you want to.
In addition to redacting, Note that you can also scrub the metadata. See below.
http://www.howtogeek.com/180849/how-to-remove-the-hidden-personal-inform...
... Tsipras took what he wanted in order to prepare better for a Grexit. The Greek Leftists in power know very well who are dealing with, so they will use this time to prepare for the next battle of this big war. The four-month period is currently a tactical win for the Greeks as it is close to a recent proposal which was not accepted initially by the eurogroup ...
New Drachmas order from printer weren't ready so Tsipras and Varoufakis had to play kiss the EU's assholes to keep the banks open till the new money comes in. The Greek people, having now been brutally pissed and shat on by the EU, ECB, and IMF, should be ready now to follow Tsipras as he calls them to get out of the EU, to adopt the New Drachma. to default on the odious debts, and return from slavery back to sovereign nation status.
so what does reality & truth have to do with anything anymore???
To be fair there are a large number of ways to convert a Word document to a PDF. It could very well be that one of them added in the author as the ECOFIN dude.
But then again my explanation is boring and I much rather believe that an EU bureaucrat wrote it up and Syriza capitulated completely. Makes for a much better story.
The whole point is that we're being led down the rabbit hole chasing shadows.
Another fiasco to distract us and make the Greeks look like foolish assholes.
Did they or didn't they, only their haridresser knows for sure. (Double entendre, I'm sure /s)
Anyway, its just another side show in the three ring circus of perpetual idiocy that has become our New Normal.
I await with abated breath to see what new shenanigans the sorcerers come up with next to distract the debt slaves.
This isn't as big a deal as it's made out to be.
In any contract/agreement negotiation the written agreement is passed back and forth and modified ad infintinum until both sides agree to the last semi colon, and it is typical the side trying to get the deal will let the receiving side supply the original draft with the key terms it must meet.
I'm not surprised it's not that much different in diplomatic agreements.
Greece is the applicant side in this negotiation, so the base draft comes from the European Commision, looks like typical procedure to me.
Absolutely. I agree with you 100%.
This situation reminds me of the baseless allegations that Citibank wrote the trillion dollar bill that Congress passed that protected their deposits which they were allegedly using for gambling.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/16/politics/kevin-yoder-citigroup-elizabeth-w...
Are you being sarcastic?
the European commison is party to the agreement in question, together with the Greek government.
Citi is neither the GOP or the DEMs, or another political party that is legally party to the legislation drafting process. The European commision IS party to the agreement drafting process.
you are a moron, full stop.
That's true but the final version is NEVER drafted by the receiving party. Always by the party who is the stated author. You don't just go around finishing letters for other people and then claim that is what they sent you.
Bingo!!!
no, but we already know Greece has the weaker negotiating position, no? and they are a new government who may be unfamiliar with all the diplomatic wordsmithing and doc to pdf authorship because their new secretary was fresh out of college and not some well-greased career technocrat so they overlooked changing the document authorship... that's also a possibility(and I think this possibility is probably most likely given Syriza has no experience with any of this)
as long as the Greek side has given consent, that's what matters.
This is no.t true.............
Think about it.
If Greece leaves then 2 of Germany's supposedly solidist banks at 40-1 capital are bankrupt.
And all the weak players leave in 5 years, which leaves the euro at about 2.00 with all the weak hands or country's are out. The weak guys in 10 years can sell debt again without paynig back shit
Germany, France and whoever else is left are so non-competitive because of currency price that they go into massive depression.
Greece has the strong hand, they just gotta figure out how to use it to their advantage!
very reasonable
if i were yanis, i would have also waited for a first draft of asks by the EC; delete/modify what i could not politically commit to; add in what i have politically committed to; and return to sender; piece o cake...
Bravo
It does not matter who drafted the document. The bottom line is that there must be civil war in Greece. Even if Greece escapes the EU, the kept politicians, government employees and pensioners, welfare recipients and Oligarchs will still be knocking on the door of the keepers, the stupid ass Average Joe Greek on the outside looking in. Where is our money? where is my pension? where is my welfare? pay me now! pay me now! we will send our government goons after you and collect 100% of your income and wealth to maintain our lifestyles!!!
This is not the doing of Germany, any Central Bank, the EU, the IMF, or anyone outside Greece. The young people and non-beneficiaries of the status quo in Greece have their neighbors, parents and grandparents to blame. They are the selfish greedy bastards who only thought of themselves when voting in the Socialists over multiple decades. Not a care in the world about the suckers who would eventually being paying the bills.
50% of you mother fuckers are unemployed. Do something with your lives!!!
"then it merely confirms that Greece not only has no stated sovereignty, but it isn't even permitted to draft its own memos."
If the banksters repeatedly are caught fiddling and fixing with nairy a criminal caution, then this is no surprise because they are outside the legal justUS system
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
But then satan got hold of it and turned into a sentence on the Greek people.
In the beginning was Word, and the Word was .doc; then .docx.
Satan (Microsoft) made it and now all your metadata is belong to us (them).
I think we would all be very naive not to believe that Tsipras and Varoufakis have been under surveillance for a very long time and that the big boys have a big dossier of documents, photos and taped telephone conversations that would make both Varoufakis and Tspiras look very bad.
If they were phoen tapping Merkel why not these two Greek lads.
In any case there is more to the whole matter than meets the eye but the reality is still the same......hopeless.
I always check, and if necessary manually change, the metadata in documents I generate for exactly this reason.
Years ago, when I was an employee, I created some worksheets and document templates I found very handy. When I left that job 11 years ago (hopefully the last job I will ever have), I took a few of those with me and use them to this day. There wasn't any confidential or proprietary data in them; it was the layout and the various functions in them that I like. I suppose that could be construed as my former employer's property, although I was the only person who ever used them, but I digress.
I noticed that my employer's name still showed up in the metadata so I changed it, but I'd already used them a few times by the time I noticed that. Other people in my field have seemingly found my templates useful too; there aren't that many of us, we all know each other, and I take a very "mi casa su casa" attitude to such things. So from time to time I still receive documents built on the templates I created maybe 15 years ago, with my former employer's information in the metadata fields.
But I had left my former employer on less than good terms (mine was a "Non-Cake Departure") so I didn't want any headaches, so I took great pains to change the metadata.
It's not impossible some Greek admin copied over a Word Doc originally generated by her Eurodrone counterpart. It would be heinously lazy, but I've seen more ridiculous things.
It doesn't matter who wrote the doc. but who Signed the fucker. If YV did sign the doc. then it could be considered a treasonous act and worthy of the firing squad. Get back to teaching Yanis because you're either compromised so early or just plain chicken.
Hold on , a previous letter was sent to the wrong office ( later denied ) so anything is possible; maybe the austerity cut so deep it was sent by pigeon and intercepted by a drone. Everything's possible if we can just open our minds. s/c
Didn't they do Obama's birth certificate too?
In the lyrics of Axl Rose (GNR)......."Its' all Greek to me" from "one in a million'
Par for the course. EU must make an example out of Greece and any upstart political movements.
Varoufakis "I can't write the reforms, I can't see in this office as there are no lightbulbs, and that cunt Samaras took all the goddam paper too"
Costello "Not a problem, I will type this up for you to sign at will. Providing that is before midnight"
Varoufakis (covering the phone receiver) "Haha, I even saved a sheet of A4, dumb fucks"
They are LAUGHING at you Greek People !!!!
Whactcha gunna do about it????????????????
You may be right but you may be wrong, can't be sure. There are many Word to pdf converters and you don't know which one were being used. They do not need to behave the same way.
", but a European Commission (ECFIN) bureaucrat Declan Costello..."
Interesting name... - Elvis Costello is a singer who was born with the name Declan MacManus and, according to wikipedia, has several aliases, one of which is "The Imposter"
Lets be serious.
Read the letter and conclude for yourself whether you think some Greek bureaucrat wrote it 10 to Midnight. I am not even sure some Euromoron named Declan Costello could write it. It looks like an IMF piece of work.
The meta data etc just confirms what we already know.
And lets also recognize that Yanis and the other Syriza leaders have surely taken calls from Victoria Nuland followed up by CIA agents bearing threats.
How else to explain such an abject and humiliating retreat without even a fig leaf of cover or a shred of dignity for the Greek politicos.
And everyone is shocked, SHOCKED I SAY!...to find those in power selling out the peoples trust and then pointing fingers at each other...lol.
Greece is a fucking basket case economically, a sniffling, skin scratching, bug-eyed basket case.
So lets put it in terms the layman can understand, like all junkies, "Just gimme one more fix and I'll straighten out, I promise!" The dealer says sure babe, whatever you say, here ya go. The dealer has her by the short hairs, she made herself that way, she knows it and the dealer really doesn't care, she'll do whatever it takes, whatever he tells her.
And we're not that far from it either.
Heroin is the perfect analogy.
Tyler- Ur the best!
This is the only place I saw it..
Not surprising in the least...........
2 thums up!!!!!!!!!!!
"Declan Costello"?
Hello? Its a fictitious name.
"Elvis Costello" (a slam at the American entertainment mentality) is in real life "Declan MacManus".
Take his real name and add his stage name.
The insider fun of the Illuminati as they telegraph that this all Kabuki theater.
Of course this assumes a very specific course of document conversion, could be that the new author just copy and pasted the text into a new document. So many possibilities, silly to make assumptions or jumpt to conclusions.
sorry to be a party pooper but the truth is that the Greek officials send the list on ms word format that was then turned in to a pdf by that guy...here is the original properties compare to the pdf...as you would expect "no one" had his name at the properties...just "user" http://makpress.blogspot.com/2015/02/yannis-koutsomitis.html
No matter who the true author is, the fact is that the Greek Finance Minister has not disclaimed the document as someone else's authorship.
Tempest in a teapot.
"Tempest in a teapot"....my english teacher (God bless her soul) never warned me about the different versions of english that I had to learn and use Google to understand...she just said, "English is English",...not really.
Calm down dear Victor (e.g Nike)..the issue at hand is barely a Greek coffee's bubble on top of the cup, let along a storm in an American teapot..its rubbish really.