FC: Echelon exists and is not that bad, European Parliament cmte says

[Declan McCullagh <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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