Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1998 13:45:04 -0600 (CST)
From: "Harry M. Cleaver" <hmcleave-AT-eco.utexas.edu>
Subject: AUT: ECHELON Surveillance System (fwd)



>From: Cyber Rights <cyber-rights-AT-cpsr.org>
>To: "Multiple recipients of list cyber-rights-AT-cpsr.org" 
>Subject: cr> New GILC newsletter
>
>(Introduction from moderator: The Global Internet Liberty Campaign is
>a group of groups: a collaboration among many international
>organizations to promote free speech and other liberties online.  Many
>U.S. organizations familiar to readers, such as EFF, CDT, and CPSR,
>are members. So is Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK), Yaman's
>organization.--Andy)
>
>Sender: "Yaman Akdeniz" <lawya-AT-lucs-01.novell.leeds.ac.uk>
>
>This has several news items of interest to the list and please note 
>that this publication is normally available through GILC's homepage 
>as due to its length I will not post it regularly to the list.
>
>Yaman
>
>
>=============================================================== More
>News on Massive US-EU Spying Apparatus Circulates
>
>Since the European Parliament's announcement in September that it will
>commission a full report on the clandestine US-UK intelligence system
>called ECHELON even more information about the system is becoming
>public -- after decades of silence.
>
>The first acknoweledgement by a government entity of the existence of
>the system was in an EU Parliament working report, entitled, "An
>Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control."   The report was
>presented to the EU Parliament on 16 September and was followed by the
>adoption of a resolution to create "protective measures concerning
>economic information and effective encryption" to guard against abuse
>and threats to civil liberties posed by the clandestine system.   
>
>"Within Europe, all email, telephone and fax communications are
>routinely intercepted by the United States National Security Agency,
>transferring all target information from the European mainland ...to
>Fort Meade in Maryland...," the report stated.  The report also claims
>that the Echelon system was first uncovered in the 1970's by a group
>of researchers in the UK.
>
>Recently, a Dutch newspaper NRC put an addition to the working report
>used by the EU online: 
>
> <http://www.nrc.nl/W2/Lab/Echelon/stoa2sept1998.html>
>
>The additions to the original report state that there are two separate
>mechanisms used for transatlantic electronic surveillance.  One
>mechanism is as the UK/USA system comprising the activities of
>military intelligence agencies such as NSA-CIA in the USA subsuming
>GCHQ & MI6 in the UK operating a system known as ECHELON; and the
>second is the EU-FBI system which is links up various law enforcement
>agencies such as the FBI, police, customs, immigration and internal
>security.
>
>NRC also states that since publication of the Interim report and
>circulation by the EU Parliament, allegations that the US benefited
>economically from ECHELON have also been uncovered.
>
>NRC cites the Financial Mail as having reported that "key words
>identified by US experts include the names of inter-governmental trade
>organisations and business consortia bidding against US companies. The
>word 'block' is on the list to identify communications about offshore
>oil in area where the seabed has yet to be divided up into exploration
>blocks."
>
>NRC also stated that there are suggestions that in 1990 the US broke
>into secret negotiations and persuaded Indonesia that US giant AT & T
>be included in a multi-billion dollar telecoms deal that at one point
>was going entirely to Japan's NEC.
>
>In the US, a new report on the National Security Agency's top-secret
>spying network will also soon be sent to members of the Congress.  The
>report -- "Echelon: America's Spy in the Sky" was produced by the Free
>Congress Foundation and details the history and workings of the NSA's
>global electronic surveillance system.
>
>The parliamentary report is expected to focus on concerns that the
>system has been expanded and is being directed at the communications
>of European companies and elected officials.  The Free Congress
>Foundation is urging the U.S. Congress to examine Echelon as carefully
>as the European Parliament has.
>
>The NSA refuses to confirm or deny Echelon's existence, but
>investigative journalists and civil liberties activists have uncovered
>many details in recent years.  
>
>The Free Congress Foundation report on Echelon is available at: 
> <http://www.freecongress.org/ctp/echelon.html>
>
>To learn more about Echelon, see: Somebody's Listening, NEW STATESMAN
>, 12 August 1988 
> <http://jya.com/echelon-dc.htm>; 
>
>1998 Nicky Hager, Covert Action Quarterly article on ECHELON: 
> <http://jya.com/echelon.htm>; 
>
>1998 European Parliament, STOA report, Assessment of the Technologies
>of Political Control   
> <http://jya.com/stoa-atpc.htm> 
>
>
>==============================================================> ABOUT THE GILC NEWS ALERT:
>==============================================================>
>The GILC News Alert is the newsletter of the Global Internet Liberty
>Campaign, an international coalition of organizations working to
>protect and enhance online civil liberties and human rights.
>Organizations are invited to join GILC by contacting us at
>gilc-AT-gilc.org. To alert members about threats to cyber liberties,
>please contact members from your country or send a message to the
>general GILC address. 
>
>To submit information about upcoming events, new activist tools and
>news stories, contact: A. Cassidy Sehgal-Kolbet <csehgal-AT-aclu.org>
>American Civil Liberties Union 125 Broad Street 17th Floor, New York,
>New York 10004  USA
>
>More information about GILC members and news is available at
><http://www.gilc.org/>. You may re-print or redistribute the GILC NEWS
>ALERT freely.  To subscribe to the alert, please send an email to
>gilc-announce-AT-gilc.org with the following message in the body: 
>subscribe gilc-announce 
>
>==============================================================> PUBLICATION OF THIS NEWSLETTER IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A
> GRANT FROM THE OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE (OSI)
>=========================================================>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Yaman Akdeniz <lawya-AT-leeds.ac.uk>
>Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK) at: http://www.cyber-rights.org
>
>Read the new CR&CL (UK) Report, Who Watches the Watchmen, Part:II
>Accountability & Effective Self-Regulation in the Information Age,
>August 1998 at http://www.cyber-rights.org/watchmen-ii.htm
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>  Posted by Andrew Oram  - cr-owner-AT-cpsr.org - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS
>   A CPSR Project -- http://www.cpsr.org -- cpsr-AT-cpsr.org
>          http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/
>          ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/
> Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use.
> ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
>



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  Hans K. Klein
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  School of Public Policy, MC:0345  Fax:   404-894-0535
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