U.S. spy agency besieged by e-mail 'threats'

[mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL COM>]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crg507.htm

U.S. spy agency besieged by e-mail 'threats'

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defying an ultra-secret spy network believed to be
scanning overseas e-mails for subversive messages, Internet protesters
tried to overwhelm U.S. government eavesdroppers by flooding the system
with fabricated messages about terrorist plots and bombs.  But even
supporters of Thursday's electronic civil disobedience campaign
acknowledged that the effort likely caused ''a lot of laughter,'' not
consternation, at America's super-secret National Security Agency.

Organizers urged Internet users on dozens of Web sites and in discussion
groups to send millions of e-mails with subversive-sounding language.
''Give the (NSA) their keywords!'' one person wrote.  The intent was
clear: Flood the powerful NSA computers with enough suspicious traffic to
crash them and disrupt the mysterious high-tech listening system,
code-named ''Echelon.''

A 1997 report commissioned by the European Parliament described ''routine
and indiscriminate'' monitoring of faxes, e-mails and telephone messages
in Europe by the global spy network, which it said was coordinated by the
NSA with the help of other nations' security organizations. Another study
for the European Union this year brought out new details.

Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., has said he supports congressional hearings to
determine the scope of the spy network's capabilities and to prevent
abuses. The network is said to include a listening station in Sugar Grove,
W.Va., about 250 miles from Washington.

The NSA is prohibited from spying within the United States. But it's
unclear how those prohibitions are respected with e-mail, which can travel
outside U.S. borders on a zigzag path across the Internet even when sent
by one American to another.

The agency declined to comment Thursday on its network or the potential
impact of the day's e-mail campaign.

''The agency doesn't discuss alleged intelligence operations,'' NSA
spokeswoman Judith Emmel said. ''It doesn't confirm or deny any
Echelon-type technology.''

ISN is sponsored by Security-Focus.COM