The critical question is were they trespassing?, if so, yeah they deserved some jail time.
Just taking pics from a public road/path at some fenced in military stuff should at the very most get a slap on the wrist.Arma devs arrested for spying in Greece
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
UPDATE: Bohemia Interactive CEO says he hopes the arrest of two staffers in Greece on charges of spying is "an unfortunate misunderstanding"; pair reportedly explained they were collecting material for Arma III.
Two Bohemia Interactive developers have been arrested on the Greek island of Lemnos for spying, company CEO Marek Spanel confirmed today. The executive explained on the company's official forums that the firm will not go into further details on the matter.
According to Greek reports surfacing recently, the pair were in possession of videos and photos of military compounds in Lemnos at the time of their arrest. The Greek island is the main location for Bohemia Interactive's upcoming shooter Arma III, with the two reportedly claiming they were collecting reference material for the game.
Asked if the arrested Arma devs are currently at the Czech embassy in Greece, a Bohemia Interactive representative told GameSpot, "Unfortunately, we have no idea at the moment."
Arma III is due out for PC during 2013. For more on the project, check out GameSpot's latest preview.
UPDATE: Bohemia Interactive CEO Marek Spanel has released a statement about the incident, claiming the two employees were visiting the island of Lemnos "with the sole purpose of experiencing the island's beautiful surroundings".
"Since its establishment in 1999, Bohemia Interactive has created games based only upon publicly available information," Spanel said. "We always respect the law and we've never instructed anybody to violate the laws of any country. The same is true for Arma III."
Spanel said the studio is training its efforts on supporting the two employees arrested in Greece, and that he hopes the incident is nothing more than "an unfortunate misunderstanding of their passion as artists and creators of virtual worlds".
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
303 comments
Even though it must be obvious to Greece that these guys are harmless, and the Czech president has spoken for them, governments like to use incidents like these to play silly little power games. This is now a polictical incident between Greece and the Czech Republic, and the outcome will have political consequences.
Wow.... getting picked up in a country on the brink of collapse with detailed photos of military installations. That should be a fun one to explain.
1 Like Does this mean the entire Greek Armed forces will be omitted from ARMA III ?!!
Whatever will we do withouttheir half-dozen .30 cal-mounted Neckar Europas and three Fiat Falcons?
And, yeah, they could use Turkish mules to pull their catapults, but true enthusiasts could certainly tell the difference.
It just won't be as authentic. :(
1 Like ...I see... using publicly info available, but going there to see "with their own two eyes" does sounds a bit fishy. I don't want to trouble myself saying if what they've done is right or wrong since I'm not greek and it won't change anything defending or accusating the country, but would it hurt getting permission to photograph whatever they were photographing? I wouldn't invade my neighboor's house just to look what he drinks.
Arrested for spying is a little bit over edge, but I can see they can get a bit upset by taking photos of military installations. However, we, the public, don't really know what photos was taken. Only the police and the Czechs that were there knows that.
Delete the photos the Greeks don't like, fine them, ban them from entering Greece for a few years and let's be done with this. It shouldn't be more difficult then that, rather then overacting and brand them as spies. What era are we in? The Cold War?!
Granted, the Greeks don't like the Turks, but I'm sure they already got the intel waaay before this week's event, and probably have a better view from Google Earth then photos taken by Czechs on vacation. Most likely they were collecting data for ArmA 3 on their own spare time.
Personally, I'd like them to go scot-free, but I guess that won't happen in a million years. So, fine them and move on, Limnos/Lemnos.
PS: It's annoying that the comment field doesn't have an edit button!
Hmmm, I think after this incident, Bohemia Interactive will be the winner. These two developers will be probably be free soon and Bohemia Interactive's Arma III already took a lot of publicity for free...
7 Like @Gifted_OneMaybe it seems illogical to someone ignorant of the political situation with our neighboring countriies.In that case it might be better next time to research before you post nonsense.And its especially logical since this happened at an island right accross Turkey.Spying and air space violations are the norm in these parts.
I'm inclined to believe they just trespassed or got too close and the Greek authorities just took the measures they felt were necessary. North Korea and Belarus are the ones who arrest tourists just so they can ransom them off for money. Greece must of just caught them too close. Either way it makes Greece look bad because if a couple of game developers get so close imagine what real spies could of done.
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@Suikogaiden Yah which is my point. That's why I think they just got too close. But it does still put egg on the government's face because how do you allow regular people to get this close. Then again we don't know how close. But it seems like they got really close or at least in a position which allows them a good viewpoint to see everything. Either way it seems like there is more to the story.
yeah they were spying greece. to get all of your financial and military secrets...oh wait.
they should be kissing theyre feet for the income those two have added to their economy while looking for buildings.
How about you kiss my ass.Just because our country has fallen on hard times doesn't mean we lost our dignity.So go spew your venom somewhere else moron.
To be fair, Greece hasn't fallen on hard times. It jumped onto them with enthusiasm. I especially enjoyed the Greek leadership telling the EU to give out more loans or Greece would stop paying its bills and force other countries into bankruptcy. Go Greece!
2 Like So you understand.I don't know about the US but who would you vote for if each and evey choice you had was corrupt?Left,right it doesn't matter.They all are a tightly knit group,pretending to fight in our tv's and sharing jokes inside the parliament.
1 Like The people Greek people elected their government. Not suprisingly, bad choices lead to bad situations. My greatest frustration is seeing people in the US make the same terrible decisions.
Do you believe everything the media tells you to believe?No one criticises the Greek government more than the Greeks themselves.In fact most of us,even fascists and anarchists (maybe thats the only thing they aggree on)do believe our goverment is corrupt and sells our country for their own personal profit.Some food for thought,not written by a Greek but a dutch living here.
I linked this before but in case you missed it i encourage you to read it and learn whats the difference between the people and our goverment.
http://eagainst.com/articles/greece-is-not-a-dog-the-arrogance-of-the-austerians/
I honestly don't think they were doing anything wrong, ok maybe they should have said something to the government, but I think they were just trying to find a few buildings then could then recreate the look of, not the inside. But if I am proven wrong, I don't mind.
5 Like The stupidity and ignorance of many comments here is astounding.I guess many people do believe what the media tells them to believe.
Spies undercover as 'game developers' i think this'll catch on quick in the espionage community
5 Like I can't understand your stance guys.Think about it,how about a studio from another country was trying to get images and videos from an american military facility?What is it different?(Sorry if a made a grammar mistake in the sentence)
yeah, I'm afraid I draw the line at international espionage...sorry boss, you'll have to do this one yourself. :)
don't come and take pictures of our military installations and you won't be arrested... life in prison now and be done with it... as for google maps, all military installations in all countries don't appear on them....
3 Like They should be able to bribe their way out easily... offer the government a bit of cash, they'll bite their hands off.
Cowards. They should have pretended they had bombs and weapons and tested the reaction times and stopping power of the Greek weaponry.
I mean..are they there to get information or not!?
I know Greece has had problems with its neighbors. Let's first see how this develops. Do they seriously want us to believe that a Czech company was solely founded for spying? Or that someone is paying these employees to get a copy of the info? This is all public info. What did the developers go into secret base? Did they take a picture of something secret? This just makes Greece seem like it has very bad security.
It's not like the entire country is a dead zone for information, it's not Belarus nor North Korea. You can come and go. So this just means Greece is going overboard or their security is bad. Anyone with a satelitte phone would of sent those pictures already.
3 Like You're kidding right?? You can get arrested under the terrorism act for taking photos in a shopping centre. Do you really think that, in this day and age, countries are going to let you take photos and videos of military bases without prior permission?
1 Like @GeneralTrouble Yes and you made my point. Greece is an open country thus they won't get arrested merely for being in Greece. They must to trespassed or the Greek authorities are overreacting. I'm inclined to believe they trespassed. Either way it makes Greece look bad. If some game developers can easily get close to this kind of stuff imagine what true spies might have been able to get.
@GeneralTrouble No problem. It seems though there is more too this story. I wonder exactly where the develops were.
1 Like @BlackSquare Sorry mate I must have misinterpreted your post. I thought it read like you were finding fault with the Greeks for making the arrest. My apologies.
In the end the Greeks will let them go because they will realize we don't have any reason to spy on them. Then again, I wouldn't bet against the U.S. trying to spy on anyone they can. Same goes for some other countries too.
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Um, it says they were arrested in Greece. The only mention of what you are talking about was that they may be at the Czech embassy, which I did not put two and two together at that moment and just assumed they were American. Anyway, my post still makes some sort of sense, and I hope they get released very soon.
@MysteryJ0ker So, because I make one little mental error, I am an idiot? You really shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions, especially about someone you know nothing about. I am far from an idiot. And why do you feel the need to put people down? Does it really make you feel better? Just thik before you act. That is advice no idiot would give.
Nah, I was just skimming the article and more or less didn't really pay enough attention to it.
3 Like Realism and accuracy are nice, but the innocuous quest to create games does not put developers above the law. They should have asked for permission to visit the military facility. Public relations personnel are often happy to receive and process such requests.
You totally beat me to what I wanted to say. You snooze, you lose. Man is that saying ever so true.
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1 Like @BlackSquare Your ignorance is atonoshing, better document yourself before jumping to the internet...
3 Like @BlackSquare Who would want to spy on us... hmm... let me see... Turkey, albania, FYROM, bulgaria... alll our allies because there are no allies in this day and age... yes no one... loser!
@DespVand Actually you're right. I misspoke and I'm sorry for that. I meant to say who would spy on Greece in this fashion/method. Greece is an open country so it's not like you get arrested for every little thing. The developers either trespassed (which would make Greece look bad because if some develops can gain access this easily) or the gov't overreacted. Which is why I said it made sense from a Greek perspective to think they were spying.
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