[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Echelon exists and is not that bad, European Parliament cmte says

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 24 May 2001 12:16:41 -0400
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To:             	politech@politechbot.com
Subject:        	FC: Echelon exists and is not that bad, European Parliament cmte says
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com


---
Leaked report:
http://fas.org/irp/program/process/europarl_draft.pdf
HTML version:
http://cryptome.org/echelon-ep.htm
---

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,44072,00.html

   Report Downplays Echelon Effect
   By Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
   9:00 a.m. May 24, 2001 PDT

   WASHINGTON -- A global surveillance system known as Echelon does
   exist and has the ability to eavesdrop on telephone calls, faxes
   and e-mail messages, a European Parliament committee has concluded.

   In a 250KB draft report, the committee said that Echelon --
   operated by English-speaking countries including the United States,
   Canada and Great Britain -- is designed for intelligence purposes
   but that no "substantiated" evidence exists that it has been used
   to spy on European firms on behalf of American competitors.

   While impressive, Echelon is not "nearly as extensive" as news
   reports have claimed, the 33-member committee concluded, saying the
   system continues to rely heavily on satellite and radio intercepts
   and can intercept "only a very limited proportion" of the growing
   amount of telecommunications traffic that flows through fiber optic
   and land lines.

   [...]



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