The Greek Authorities recently arrested a few British plane spotters for taking photos of aircraft at a Greek Airbase, and charged them with spying!!So here's the deal - I go off to Greece with a friend and 'play' Microsoft Flight Sim. I'm arrested for playing computer games....My friend says he can land an Olympic Airways Airbus with one engine out and severe crosswinds at Athens Airport (in FS of course). I bet him he can't land it without crashing. I'm arrested for gambling....He manages to land the plane and takes a few screenshots as proof. He's arrested for taking pictures at the airport....The authorities then 'review' our cases and decide to detain us as spies....I reckon anyone living in or visiting Greece are going to have to work bloody hard to keep themselves out of jail !! :-lol :-lol :-lolWhatever glue the Greek politicians who thought this one up are sniffing, I think they should change their brand...Toni.

I'm glad to see someone still believes judges can use common sense, considering Tom's recent 'Stella Awards' :-)A big concern for all on line flyers, what will this do to the excellent Greek VATC, assuming Elrond's interpretation of the law is correct?Very worrying.Quite a while ago (years) there was concern that Governments were getting in a spin about the Internet, the way it works meant they had little or no control over its affect on people and that does not sit well with Governments.It would seem that events in the USA, UK, some Far East Countries, and now Greece are proving that fear about the Internet being 'free' and Governemnts are beginning to exert control more and more.

The Greek authorities really are becoming a bit of an international joke these days. First they arrest people for plane spotting, and now this. They're just a bunch of paranoid idiots as far as I'm concerned.And there I was thinking that Greece was a democratic country.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

And isn't there a guy over in Greece who has a full sized sim that he made? Stamatis something? I can't remember the guys name now. But imagine building your cockpit and then having it declared illegal? I wonder if they'd let him export it?Paranoid or what???Still flying (playing) free in Canada. Just try to take away my copy of FS!CF-AOA

So you consider it to be simply "hype" that two have already been arrested for playing Counter Strike on-line, face a 150,000euro fine, and 12 months imprisonment?! Not sure I follow you here...Greeks fight computer game banCheers, Tony

Tony,Yes, it is. It's hype when one writes: "a guy has been arrested", without stating, in detail, what's really happened, if the guy was arrested or only charged for something that will be resolved on the trial, if the guy was instead arrested for something else happened in that occasion, if the guy it's actually in prison or not, if the guy *will* be in prison next week ( when this news will be already too old to be interesting, and they'll go with the next one ), if the guy it's the only one in the country been arrested, or there will be others, and if it's the only one, why.It's typical hype-based journalism. Defend a poor this week, until the news is hot and sells, than find another one to defend when people forget about the first one, without remotely caring how it really ended or evolved, nor caring to explain why.Maybe I'm wrong, but I still believe that Greece *is* a democratic country, is part of Europe, and common sense *will* prevail, hopefully some judge will fix what the politicians screwed up big time. I think one shouldn't forget the Greek's people character, quite close to we italians, they are very ironic, not really taking their relationship with a set of rules *that* seriously. A law as stupid as this, will not stand ANY trial, not even the first stages, let alone sending any people in prison.regards,

LMAO! :-lolhttp://212.212.159.238/svedude/imagesP/jp_sig1.jpg

Have you read the casefile on that one (the original one, not something some reporter cooked up based on the translation of a rumour by some highschool kid)?Were they arrested for playing a game or for gambling on the outcome?The latter is banned and was banned before, this new law only makes it easier to arrest and charge the perpetrators.It's gambling on the outcome of games which is illegal in Greece (and I agree with that). As such, games of chance have been banned. I haven't seen a single Greek person yet who commented on the wording of the original text. Who's to say that the translations floating around aren't grossly inaccurate?

Those guys were taking pictures without permission after entering a military installation without permission.Had they had permission, they'd have entered through a gate and not through a hole in a fence.AFAIK that's illegal in any country on earth.Add to that that they did it in wartime (NATO vs. Afghanistan) in an area with high tensions (Greece vs. Turkey, Greece vs. FYR of Macedonia). IMO they got off lightly with only probationary sentences and being blacklisted for entering Greece.