FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

Wired: Echelon Furor Ends in a Whimper

------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: Owen Blacker <owen.blacker@wheel.co.uk> To: "UK Crypto list (E-mail)" <ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Subject: Wired: Echelon Furor Ends in a Whimper Date sent: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 10:16:56 +0100 Send reply to: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,44984,00.html

| Echelon Furor Ends in a Whimper | By Steve Kettmann <kettmann@aol.com> | 3:00 p.m. July 3, 2001 PDT | | STRASBOURG, France -- In the end, a year of hard work boils down to this: | Echelon exists and the Europeans don't like it, but there isn't much they | can do except wring their hands in impotent fury as the Americans | continue spying on whomever they please. | | The resolution approved Tuesday by a European Parliament committee set up | to investigate the satellite-based surveillance system condemned | Echelon's existence but, aside from agreeing to step up meaningful | rhetorical pressure on the Americans, achieved very little. | | The committee officially wrapped up its inquiry late Tuesday by passing | more than 60 of 160 amendments before approving the entire resolution, | 27 to 5. There were two abstentions. | | Some of the amendments sought to add a harder edge to the language of | committee head Gerhard Schmid of Germany, whose 113-page report was | hailed for its balance and fairness, which is often politician-speak for | blandness. | | Giuseppe di Lello Finuoli of Italy, one of three vice chairmen, protested | that the committee's emphasis on legalisms would not prevent Europeans | from having their e-mail, faxes and phone conversations monitored by nosy | Americans, along with their English-speaking partners, England, | Australia, New Zealand and Canada. | | Di Lello Finuoli believes the system widely known as Echelon -- which | Schmid's report says may or may not be accurate -- will continue to | operate with impunity. | | "That failure to protect European citizens will have been endorsed by the | failure to take action," Di Lello Finuoli said through the official | translator. | | "Everything will continue on as it has in the past. It is possible to | conduct espionage from one country of the European Union on another | without any consequences. This group has done some very good work, but I | think the mountain has given birth to a mouse." | | That's how his remarks were translated, at any rate. | | Schmid defended his support of European investment in decryption, not | just encryption, which some critics see as de facto acknowledgement that | Europe has its own plans for an Echelon-type system. Then he hurried out | of the meeting room, waving off questions and saying his comments would | come at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning. | | Nevertheless, committee chairman Carlos Coelho pronounced the year long | inquiry a success, saying that given the parliament's diverse | constituency -- one with a legendary reputation for fractiousness and | squabbling -- he was pleased by the level of consensus. | | "I don't think any of the amendments we approved was anything quite | different," Coelho said. "But there are more references to the United | States than what was in the draft." | | For example, Amendment No 105 "Calls on the Member States to negotiate | with the USA a Code of Conduct similar to that of the EU." | | Not exactly the kind of tough talk expected to cow the Bush | administration, but it may have some symbolic value if the full European | Parliament | approves the committee's resolution in September. | | Then there's Amendment No 94, stating that the committee "regards it as | essential that an agreement should be ... signed between the European | Union and the United States stipulating that each ... should observe ... | the provisions governing the protection of the citizens and the | confidentiality of business communications applicable to its own citizens | and firms...." | | In other words, knock off the industrial espionage, Yank. | | That expands on previous language urging the UN secretary general to push | for Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political | Rights to be updated so that it "guarantees the protection of privacy, | into line with technical innovations." Article 17 also calls upon the | United States to sign this "Additional Protocol," so that individuals can | submit complaints to the Human Rights Committee set up under the | covenant. | | Language was also added referring to "authoritative sources" confirming a | US congressional report which estimated that economic intelligence | funneled from the government could give US companies up to $7 billion in | added contracts. | | Damning stuff, at least compared with the cautious tone taken by Schmid | in his report, or even in the amendments he offered Tuesday, all of which | were passed. | | One of Schmid's seven amendments, for example, noted that "the US | intelligence services do not merely investigate general economic facts | but also intercept detailed communications between undertakings, | particularly where contracts are being awarded, and they justify this on | the grounds of combating attempted bribery.... (This) detailed | interception poses the risk that information may be used for the purpose | of competitive intelligence- gathering rather than combating corruption, | even though the US and the United Kingdom state that they do not do so." | | This focus on industrial espionage reflects the general thinking of many | in the European Parliament that the threat to commerce is as much a | concern as potential violations of individual privacy rights. But it was | criticized by some committee members, at times quite fiercely. | | "We are being completely hypocritical," said Alain M Krivine of France. | "All countries are engaged in political and (industrial) espionage. It is | just a question of power, and the United States has the most power. It is | part and parcel of globalization. However, the United States are not the | only ones who are promoting capitalism this way." | | Copyright © 1994-2001 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. | <http://hotwired.lycos.com/home/copyright.html>

- -- Owen Blacker Senior Software Developer / InfoSec Consultant Wheel: Clerkenwell See http://www.owens-place.org.uk/pgp.html -- more about my PGP keys Sig 0x00036874 | d39f b776 fa20 c125 b0e2 aa6d 555e 4126 0003 6874

_____________________________________________________________________ This message has been checked for all known viruses by UUNET delivered through the MessageLabs Virus Control Centre. For further information visit http://www.uk.uu.net/products/security/virus/

------- End of forwarded message -------

Zurück