FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

MEP WARNS ON COMMERCIAL SPYING

------- Forwarded message follows ------- From: Theodor.Schlickmann@cec.eu.int To: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk Subject: MEP WARNS ON COMMERCIAL SPYING Date sent: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 11:05:59 +0100 Send reply to: ukcrypto@chiark.greenend.org.uk

FYI A senior MEP overseeing a probe into commercial espionage said on Wednesday EU companies should beef up security measures, but added the real scale of the problem was unknown. "Companies have to take steps to protect themselves (against industrial espionage)" said Gerhard Schmid, a German socialist. "A company has to ensure that its future plans, production systems, financial data and other sensitive information are not communicated by fax or by telephone," he said. Schmid belongs to the Parliament's Echelon committee of inquiry <http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/echelon_home.htm>. He said his committee had unearthed no concrete evidence that the U.S. or Echelon was conducting espionage against companies in the 15-nation European Union. "Eavesdropping by satellite communication, unlike burglary, leaves no traces" Schmid said, adding that for this reason there were no reliable figures on the scale of economic damage caused by industrial espionage. But he added: "The possibilities for eavesdropping are hopelessly exaggerated." He said that even the U.S had to rely on its allies in the Echelon system to gather information from many parts of the world. EU fears about alleged U.S. espionage have recently been fuelled by the comments of a EU Commission employee, Desmond Perkins, to the effect that the NSA regularly checked the Commission's encryption system. The Commissionhas reassured parliamentarians that the NSA has not acquired access to EU codes. But some parliamentarians remain perturbed by the remarks. "The Perkins case reveals again acute failures of managerial control in the European Commission. We must ensure that reforms in progress just now bring about tight controls on European secrets" said British MEP Neil MacCormick.

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