[iwar] Historical posting
From: Fred Cohen
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Mon, Jan 1, 1999
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Date: Mon, Jan 1, 1999
From: Fred Cohen
Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: [iwar] Historical posting
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,32296,00.html
Echelon, the global spying network whose existence has been both
vigorously claimed and airily denied, actually exists, according to a
report by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The BBC reported Tuesday that an Australian government official has
confirmed what both the Americans and British have consistently denied
-- that the super-secret spy network exists.
BBC: Echelon Exists
Wired News Report
9:00 a.m. 3.Nov.1999 PST
Echelon, the global spying network whose existence has been both
vigorously claimed and airily denied, actually exists, according to a
report by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The BBC reported Tuesday that an Australian government official has
confirmed what both the Americans and British have consistently denied
-- that the super-secret spy network exists.
Read also: Monitor This, Echelon
According to the BBC, Australia's inspector general of intelligence,
Bill Blick, confirmed that his country's Defense Signals Directorate
forms part of the Echelon network.
"As you would expect there are a large amount of radio communications
floating around in the atmosphere, and agencies such as the DSD collect
those communications in the interests of their national security," Blick
told the BBC.
Asked if information is then passed on to the United States or Britain,
Blick said that "in certain circumstances" it was.
Those who have maintained the existence of Echelon say that its reach
into the lives of private citizens is especially sinister. The network,
which is believed to have close ties to the US National Security Agency,
can reputedly eavesdrop on any phone call, fax, or email, anywhere on
earth.
Proving Echelon's existence has become something of a Holy Grail for an
assortment of privacy advocates, hackers, and journalists. The online
campaign to unmask Echelon has been especially fierce, as a recent
hackers' attempt at jamming the network illustrated.
An earlier report by journalist Duncan Campbell, commissioned by the
European Parliament, provided additional evidence that Echelon, in fact,
exists.
Campbell's report cited the example of the NSA intercepting a phone call
from a French firm bidding on a Brazilian contract. The information was
allegedly passed along to an American competitor, which wound up winning
the contract.
"There is nowhere you can go to say that they've been snooping on your
international communications," Campbell told the BBC.
While no one in an official capacity in either the United States or
Britain has broken silence, one US military officer did admit that in
theory, at least, a network like Echelon could exist.
"Technically, they can scoop all this information up, sort through it,
and find what it is that might be asked for," Colonel Dan Smith told the
BBC. "But there is no policy to do this specifically in response to a
particular company's interests."
In the United States, Representative Bob Barr (R-Georgia) has persuaded
Congress to open hearings on the question of Echelon's existence and
reach.
Barr, who will be in England next month, accused the NSA of conducting a
"dragnet" of communication and "invading the privacy of American
citizens."
FC