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                Date: 1998-10-01
                 
                 
                Up/date: Wired ueber Echelon
                
                 
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      q/depesche 98.10.1/2 
updating   98.9.30/1 
 
Up/date: Wired ueber Echelon 
 
In der  EU-Kommission steht im Oktober eine neue 
Untersuchung über das globale Abhörsystem an, die 
Republikaner werden es zur gleichen Zeit im US-Kongress zur 
Sprache bringen. Auch wenn die Echelon/betreiber 
US/UK/AU/NZ/ sämtliche Anfragen grundsätzlich ignorieren, 
steht nach zahlreichen Berichten in angesehenen Medien wie 
der NY-Times der letzten Zeit fest, dass Echelon ganz in den 
Bereich "Science" & gar nicht unter "Fiction" einzuordnen 
ist.    
 
DISCLAIMER: Die Berichterstattung der q/depesche zum Komplex 
Echelon beruht zu einem guten Teil auf Sachkenntnis & 
Recherchearbeit von Kid Moechel, der bereits in den frühen 
90er Jahren über Echelon publiziert hat. 
Kid M. ist u.a. Autor des Sachbuchs "Der geheime Krieg der 
Agenten" (Hamburg 1997).   
 
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by Niall McKay, niall@wired.com 
If the European Parliament has its way, the lid is about to 
come off what is reputedly one of the most powerful, 
secretive, and extensive spy networks in history -- if, in 
fact, it really exists. 
 
In October, Europe's governing body will commission a full 
report into the workings of Echelon, a global network of 
highly sensitive listening posts operated in part by 
America's most clandestine intelligence organization, the 
National Security Agency [ http://www.nsa.gov:8080/ ]. 
 
"Frankly, the only people who have any doubt about the 
existence of Echelon are in the United States," said Glyn 
Ford [ http://www.glynford.com/ ], a British member of the 
European Parliament and a director of Scientific and 
Technical Options Assessment, or STOA 
http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg4/stoa/en/default.htm ], a 
technology advisory committee to the parliament. 
 
Echelon is reportedly able to intercept, record, and 
translate any electronic communication -- telephone, data, 
cellular, fax, email, telex -- sent anywhere in the world. 
The parliamentary report will focus on concerns that the 
system has expanded and is now zeroed in on the secrets of 
European companies and elected officials. 
 
The parliament is alarmed at reports of Echelon's impressive 
capabilities, and during a debate on 19 September the 
European Union called for  accountability 
 
http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg3/sdp/pointses/en/p980914s.htm#6
                   
... 
Across the Atlantic, Patrick Poole, deputy director for the 
Free Congress Foundation, a conservative Washington think 
tank, is preparing a report on Echelon to present to 
Republican members of Congress. "I believe it's time we 
start to bring this matter to our elected officials," he 
said. 
... 
Over the years, enough information has leaked to suggest 
that the spy network is more than science fiction. Echelon 
came to the attention of the EU Parliament following a 
report commissioned by STOA last year. 
... 
According to the STOA report and stories in The New York 
Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian, Echelon 
consists of a network of listening posts, antenna fields, 
and radar stations. The system is backed by computers that 
use language translation, speech recognition, and keyword 
searching to automatically sift through telephone, email, 
fax, and telex traffic. 
 
The system is principally operated by the NSA and the GCHQ, 
but reportedly also relies on cooperation with "signals 
intelligence" operations in other countries, including the 
Communications Security Establishment of Canada 
http://www.cse.dnd.ca/ ], Australia's Defense Signals 
Directorate, and New Zealand's Government Communications 
Security Bureau. 
... 
Each agency reportedly maintains a glossary of keywords. If 
Echelon intercepts a transmission containing a word or 
phrase contained in the glossary -- bomb, for example -- the 
full conversation, email, or fax is recorded and shared 
among the agencies. 
 
"Echelon intercepts Internet traffic at the transport layer, 
such as the TCP/IP layer, so the system doesn't care too 
much what it is or where it came from," said Pike. "For 
analog traffic, such as telephone conversations, it uses 
automatic voice-recognition technology to scan the 
conversations." 
... 
A 1993 BBC documentary about NSA's Menwith Hill facility in 
England revealed that peace protestors had broken into the 
installation and stolen part of this glossary, known as "the 
Dictionary." The documentary alleged that Menwith Hill -- a 
sprawling installation covering 560 acres and employing more 
than 1,200 people -- was Echelon's nerve center. 
 
Further evidence emerged last year, when British Telecom 
told a court that it provides high-bandwidth 
telecommunications into the Menwith Hill facility and from 
the facility to the United States, using a transatlantic 
fiber-optic network. 
 
full story 
http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/politics/story/15295. 
html 
 
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published on: 1998-10-01 
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