[wordup] Update on Echelon

[Adam Shand]

i've brutalized this post.  if you want more info please go to the url.
for those that don't know echelon is a joint monitoring system that was
originally setup between the usa, uk, australia and new zealand.  it was
kept very hush until the book "secret power" (by nicky hager) was written
in new zealand, and the world caught wiff of what was going on.  in
particular the eu has taken a dim view of the governement (and foreign
governments) spying on it's citizens.  for some reason the "land of the
free" seems to feel that there is nothing out of the ordinary going on and
everyone needs to just go back to minding their own damn business.

parts of "secret power" are online at:

	http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/sp/

Analysis: US FRUSTRATES EU ECHELON INVESTIGATION
By Phil Cain  philcain at e-legality.org

The EU team investigating Echelon, an international electronic
communication interception system headed by the US National Security
Agency, cut short its visit to the US this month because it was denied
planned meetings with representatives of the US Advocacy Centre.

The Advocacy Centre was set up by the Department of Commerce in 1993 to
help US firms to win foreign public contracts. Some believe the centre
could have helped pass on economic information picked up by the Echelon
network to US corporations. Proving such exchanges took place is crucial
to proving the EU 's contention that Echelon may have significantly
damaged EU economies.

Denial of access to the Advocacy Centre meant the investigation team, led
by 'rapporteur' Gerhard Schmidt, was unable to verify or discount
documents which suggested the CIA is involved in the Centre's work. Nor
could it find out the identity of five of the 19 agencies the Centre says
it works with but does not name.

US intelligence officials admit to state-sponsored industrial espionage
justifying it by saying it is simply a way to uncover foreign corruption
which put US companies at an unfair disadvantage. In answer reports
published by the EU investigative team this month (see below) say: "It
should be pointed out to the Americans that all EU Member States have
properly functioning criminal justice systems. If there is evidence that
crimes have been committed, the US must leave the task of law enforcement
to the host countries."

The reports, released shortly after the investigation team's untimely
return from the US, said the balance of evidence suggests that the Echelon
system does exist. But it also did not rule out the possibility that
France and Russia may operate similar global surveillance operations but
concluded that there was "insufficient evidence to draw a firm
conclusion".

The new documents emphasise the limits technology imposes on the capacity
of any such signal interception system. In particular they pointed out the
way the Internet transmits data means: "Echelon states have access to only
a very limited proportion of Internet communication transmitted by cable."
Satellite and radio transmissions were reckoned to be more likely sources
of Echelon's raw material.

Whatever the medium monitored by the system, the reports conclude the
restricted capacity of computer keyword-matching and the limited number of
intelligence analysts meant the number of messages that could be scanned
by the system would by no means be comprehensive. By way of example the
report pointed out that a comparable German signals intelligence system
monitors only 10% of messages.

The reports also note that a filtering system would be put under
significant extra strain if required to pick up economic key words as well
as ones relating to national security.

The EU reports suggests that participants in the putative Echelon
surveillance network - the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - may
have contravened certain international laws, including EC law. Though the
EC Treaty, which sets out the ground rules for the EU, does not cover
state security operations and law and order it does not allow members to
spy on other member's companies.

The report said US privacy law and the EU Charter of Human Rights could
not be used against Echelon, but it noted Article 8 of the European Court
of Human Rights (ECHR) could offer redress to parties injured by Echelon.
The article requires signatory governments to monitor foreign intelligence
services on their territory. The report raises the question about how
diligently the UK and Germany have monitored US intelligence activities on
their territory in the past.

Consequently, the reports states that there is good reason "to call on
Germany and the UK to take their obligations under the ECHR seriously and
to make the authorisation of further intelligence activities by the
National Security Agency on their territory contingent on compliance with
the ECHR."

* Sources: Shortly after the EU investigative team's return a document
  said to be a 92-page draft report on Echelon written before the US visit
  was posted on the Internet.

  See: http://cryptome.org/Echelon-ep.htm
  And, not long after that an updated 113-page draft was officially released.
  See: http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/prEchelon_en.pdf