Brussels, 23/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - Eurojust, the European Union's judicial cooperation unit, has announced that it will take the lead in giving European police officers the right to listen electronically into conversations between suspects using internet telephony systems (VoIP), such as “Skype”. “The purpose of Eurojust's coordination role is to overcome the technical and judicial obstacles to the interception of internet telephony systems, taking into account the various data protection rules and civil rights,” Eurojust said on Friday 20 February. “The possibility of intercepting internet telephony will be an essential tool in the fight against international organised crime within Europe and beyond,” it added in a press release. “Our aim is not to stop users from taking advantage of internet telephony, but to prevent criminals from using Skype and other systems to plan and organise their unlawful actions,” the agency stated. Eurojust has announced that at, at the request of the National Anti-Mafia Unit in Rome, the Italian Desk at Eurojust will play a key role in the coordination and cooperation of the investigations on the use of VoIP systems. As the Italian police recently revealed, organised crime, prostitution rings and arms and drugs traffickers are increasingly making use of internet telephony systems. Skype refuses to share with the authorities the secrets of its encryption system that would allow suspects' conversations to be decoded. In the coming weeks, Eurojust will hold a meeting to try to find a try to find a solution to this problem. (B.C./transl/rt)