IP: a talk in the SF Bay area Uncovering ECHELON w/Duncan Campbell

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 09:40:54 -0800
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: Udhay Shankar N <udhay () pobox com>
> Subject: Fwd: [SFBCA] 991113: Uncovering ECHELON w/Duncan Campbell
>
> The next SF Bay Area Cypherpunks meeting will feature a presentation on 
> Echelon by Duncan Campbell, considered the civilian expert on the subject.
>
>
> > Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 13:08:07 -0500
> > To: coderpunks () toad com, cypherpunks () algebra com, cryptography () c2 net
> > From: Dave Del Torto <info () freedomfighter net>
> > Subject: [SFBCA] 991113: Uncovering ECHELON w/Duncan Campbell
> > Sender: owner-cryptography () c2 net
> >
> > San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks Announcement:
> >
> > Next Meeting: <http://www.freedomfighter.net/cypherpunks/991113.html>
> > Meeting Page: <http://www.freedomfighter.net/cypherpunks/physical.html>
> >
> > ............................................................................
> >
> > SF Bay Area Cypherpunks (80th Chairborne Regiment)
> >
> > November 1999 Physical Meeting Announcement
> >
> > General Info:
> >
> > DATE:   Saturday, 13 November 1999
> > TIME:   12:30 - 05:00 PM    (Pacific Standard Time)
> > PLACE:  Stanford University Campus (Palo Alto, California)
> >         Gates Hall for Information Sciences
> >         Room 100
> >
> > Heads-Up for November!
> >
> >   "Operators Are Standing By..."
> >
> > We are pleased to announce that the November 1999 Physical Meeting of
> > the San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks will feature a presentation
> > entitled "Uncovering ECHELON" by none other than Duncan Campbell,
> > perhaps the subject matter expert among civilian personnel on this
> > global military intelligence surveillance network.
> >
> > As always, this is an Open Meeting on US Soil and members of the
> > Public (and any interested intelligence agencies) are encouraged to
> > attend.
> >
> > Uncovering ECHELON
> >
> > The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New
> > Zealand (aka "The UKUSA" since shortly after WWII) cooperatively run
> > a highly automated, global system for processing "COMINT"
> > (COMmunications INTelligence) obtained by means of the covert,
> > unauthorised and often illegal interception of international
> > communications. This system is now commonly known as ECHELON.
> >
> > ECHELON --the once-classified codename for project P415, under which
> > Lockheed and other corporations planned the global automation of this
> > interception system in the mid-1980s-- is now an integral part of the
> > largest secure wide area network in the world. Its key component is
> > DICTIONARY, an information- retrieval system installed at each site
> > that matches the broadband input of intercepted communications to the
> > requirements of its customers (i.e. UKUSA intelligence agencies) from
> > around the world, relaying them automatically to the requester's
> > chosen agency in any of the participating countries.
> >
> > COMINT has been practised by almost every advanced nation since
> > international telecommunications became available. It is a
> > large-scale industrial activity which is also particularly effective
> > in providing commercial intelligence. It is a matter of record that
> > all foreign communications to and from, or passing through, the
> > United Kingdom and the United States have been intercepted since the
> > 1920s.
> >
> > In the US in 1975, inquiries instigated in the wake of the Watergate
> > affair uncovered evidence that the NSA (National Security Agency) had
> > violated the Fourth Amendment rights of US citizens. Critics of
> > government policy had been placed on "watch lists" and subjected to
> > surveillance not only by US intelligence agencies but also by
> > Britain's GCHQ (General Communications Headquarters, the British
> > version of the NSA). Today, the "watch lists" have been replaced by
> > ECHELON's much more efficient DICTIONARY system.
> >
> > Today, US and allied agencies still spy on targets within and without
> > the US. The difference is that --within the US-- all such
> > interceptions are supposed to be legally approved under the Foreign
> > Intelligence Surveillance Act.
> >
> > But are they? Congress suspects not. This fall, both houses of the US
> > Congress have tabled resolutions requiring NSA to report on its
> > compliance with these provisions. The House is also supposed to
> > conduct an investigation into ECHELON and Fourth Amendment rights, at
> > the instigation of Republican Representative Bob Barr.
> >
> > Duncan's talk will describe the scale of international COMINT
> > actitivies, and will look at whether the methods now used by ECHELON
> > to monitor the Internet are still in compliance with US law (or not).
> >
> > Featured Speaker:
> >
> > Duncan Campbell is a Scottish investigative journalist and TV
> > producer. In 1988, he first revealed the existence of ECHELON to the
> > public. Earlier this year (1999), he was appointed a consultant to
> > the European Parliament and prepared a technology assessment report
> > on ECHELON and COMINT (see:
> > <http://www.iptvreports.mcmail.com/stoa_cover.htm>), which contained
> > the first public documentary evidence of the global surveillance
> > system. He will soon begin working on another such report for the
> > anticipated congressional debate in the year 2000 on the topic of
> > SIGINT agencies (SIGnals INTelligence), the Fourth Amendment and
> > human rights.
> >
> > Meeting Agenda:
> >
> >       "Our agenda is a widely-held secret."
> >
> >   12:30 -  1:00 - Hang out, consume food & caffeinated beverages,
> >                    check mic levels.
> >
> >    1:00 -  2:00 - "Uncovering ECHELON"
> >
> >                    with Duncan Campbell, IPTV, Edinburgh, Scotland
> >
> >                    Featuring:
> >                    -- Duncan's recent public research on ECHELON
> >                    -- Additional countries participating in ECHELON
> >                    -- Excerpts of never-before-seen documents that
> >                       the NSA definitely doesn't want you to even
> >                       know about, much less see...
> >
> >    2:00 -  2:30 - Question & Answer Session with Duncan.
> >
> >    2:30 - 03:00 - "Down Under ECHELON"
> >
> >                    with Ross Coulthart, Australia.
> >
> >                    -- Ross is the person responsible for the
> >                       Australian government's public admission that
> >                       ECHELON does exist and that they are part of it.
> >
> >    3:00 -  4:00 - Public Discussion about ECHELON, COMINT, and remote
> >                    hardware compromises. Various Cypherpunks will
> >                    exchange some of their knowledge on these issues.
> >
> >    4:00 -  5:00 - TBD (chef's surprise!)
> >
> >    5:00 -  ?    - Dinner at a nearby restaurant usually follows the
> >                    meeting.
> >
> >
> > Location Info:
> >
> > The meeting will be in Room 100 of Gates Hall for Information
> > Sciences on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto. The
> > auditorium should be able to comfortably hold the larger-than-usual
> > crowd expected for this meeting.
> >
> > Special thanks to:
> >   Lucky Green <mailto:lucky () cypherpunks to> for helping to arrange
> >               Duncan's appearance.
> >   Dan Boneh   <http://crypto.stanford.edu/~dabo/> Assistant Professor
> >               at Stanford's Department of Computer Science, for
> >               generously providing the meeting room.
> >
> > Location Maps:
> >
> >   Stanford Campus (overview, Gates Hall highlighted).
> >   <http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/search_map.html?keyword=Gates>
> >   Gates Hall (detail view, Gates Hall centered).
> >   <http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/stanford_zoom_map.html?193,199>
> >   Printable Stanford Map (407k, PDF format).
> >   <http://www.stanford.edu/home/visitors/campus_map.pdf>
> >   Turn-by-turn driving directions can be obtained from Mapquest.
> >   <http://www.mapquest.com>
> >
> > Additional Meeting Notes:
> >
> > The December Cypherpunks Physical Meeting will be held at the San
> > Francisco Police Department Academy in San Francisco and will feature
> > a rare Cypherpunks Shooting Club visit to the FATS III interactive
> > firearms training system used by the SFPD. Since access is limited to
> > small groups and time is short, we'll post an early sign-up message
> > to the announce list and will log people for slots on the firing line
> > on a first-come-first-served basis. Be watchful!
> >
> > If you have questions, please contact the meeting organizers:
> >     Dave Del Torto <mailto:ddt () cryptorights org>
> >     Bill Stewart <mailto:bill.stewart () pobox com>
> >
> > EOF
>
> --
>  _____________________________________________________________________
>  http://www.unimobile.com/                     http://pobox.com/~udhay
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_____________________________________________________________________
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunication Systems
University of Pennsylvania
Home Page: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber
Email: farber () cis upenn edu

Home: +1 610 274 8292; Cell and Office: +1 215 327 8756; Fax:  +1 408 490 2720