View source for Bistel

{{Short description|Belgian videotex service}}
{{Infobox online service
| name                         = Bistel - Belgian Information System by Telephone
| title                        = Bistel - Belgian Information System by Telephone
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| developer                    = [[Belgian Government]]
| generation                   =
| type                         = [[Videotex]]
| launched                     = {{Start date and age|1986 }} 
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'''Bistel''', acronym for ''Belgian Information System by Telephone'', was a [[Belgium|Belgian]] service using the [[Videotex]] protocol, established in 1986 at the initiative of the then Prime Minister [[Wilfried Martens]].

It was a [[Federal Government of Belgium|federal government]] service that gave access through [[videotex]] to [[Belga (news agency)|Belga]] [[telex]] news releases, to a press review, judicial databases ''JUSTEL'' and ''CREDOC'', economical databases ''ECOTEL'' and ''BUDGETEX''.

In 1988, Bart Halewijck, a former PM cabinet adviser and [[Municipal councilor|municipal councillor]] for the same [[Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams|CVP]] party in [[Gistel]], used the passwords he had kept to view sensitive government informations and showed it to a friend, then to a journalist from [[De Standaard]] to prove the security failures. This led to a judiciary "Bistel Case". In spite of recommendations, all passwords had not been changed every six months and many were still the same after two years. Halewijck and his friend, as there was then no specific penal provisions for such crimes, were charged for forgery and use of forgery, theft of energy with burglary, forgery by an official of a telegraphic despatch (an article of the Belgian [[Penal Code]] never used since 1911) and destruction of State property.<ref> Alain Guillaume, "[http://archives.lesoir.be/proces-bistel-bientot_t-19900118-Z029UL.html Procès Bistel bientôt]", ''[[Le Soir]]'', 18 January 1990 {{in lang|fr}}</ref> The two first ever "Belgian [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]]s" got only light penalties but the case showed the urgent need for a specific legislation.<ref>Joëlle Meskens, "[http://archives.lesoir.be/les-pirates-du-bistel-s-en-tirent-bien-la-farce-n-etait_t-19901109-Z039A1.html Les pirates du Bistel s'en tirent bien: la farce n'était pas très méchante...]", ''[[Le Soir]]'', 9 November 1990 {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

==Sources==
{{Reflist}}
{{Videotex}}
{{Belgium-media-stub}}
{{Telecommunications}}

[[Category:Communications in Belgium]]
[[Category:History of the Internet]]
[[Category:Videotex]]
[[Category:Information appliances]]
[[Category:Pre–World Wide Web online services]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in Belgium]]