-Caveat Lector- Story in this month's E-Legality Bulletin http://www.e-legality.org/ Analysis: US FRUSTRATES EU ECHELON INVESTIGATION By Phil Cain [EMAIL PROTECTED] The EU team investigating Echelon, an international electronic communication interception system headed by the US National Security Agency, cut short its visit to the US this month because it was denied planned meetings with representatives of the US Advocacy Centre. The Advocacy Centre was set up by the Department of Commerce in 1993 to help US firms to win foreign public contracts. Some believe the centre could have helped pass on economic information picked up by the Echelon network to US corporations. Proving such exchanges took place is crucial to proving the EU 's contention that Echelon may have significantly damaged EU economies. Denial of access to the Advocacy Centre meant the investigation team, led by 'rapporteur' Gerhard Schmidt, was unable to verify or discount documents which suggested the CIA is involved in the Centre's work. Nor could it find out the identity of five of the 19 agencies the Centre says it works with but does not name. US intelligence officials admit to state-sponsored industrial espionage justifying it by saying it is simply a way to uncover foreign corruption which put US companies at an unfair disadvantage. In answer reports published by the EU investigative team this month (see below) say: "It should be pointed out to the Americans that all EU Member States have properly functioning criminal justice systems. If there is evidence that crimes have been committed, the US must leave the task of law enforcement to the host countries." The reports, released shortly after the investigation team's untimely return from the US, said the balance of evidence suggests that the Echelon system does exist. But it also did not rule out the possibility that France and Russia may operate similar global surveillance operations but concluded that there was "insufficient evidence to draw a firm conclusion". The new documents emphasise the limits technology imposes on the capacity of any such signal interception system. In particular they pointed out the way the Internet transmits data means: "Echelon states have access to only a very limited proportion of Internet communication transmitted by cable." Satellite and radio transmissions were reckoned to be more likely sources of Echelon's raw material. Whatever the medium monitored by the system, the reports conclude the restricted capacity of computer keyword-matching and the limited number of intelligence analysts meant the number of messages that could be scanned by the system would by no means be comprehensive. By way of example the report pointed out that a comparable German signals intelligence system monitors only 10% of messages. The reports also note that a filtering system would be put under significant extra strain if required to pick up economic key words as well as ones relating to national security. The EU reports suggests that participants in the putative Echelon surveillance network - the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - may have contravened certain international laws, including EC law. Though the EC Treaty, which sets out the ground rules for the EU, does not cover state security operations and law and order it does not allow members to spy on other member's companies. The report said US privacy law and the EU Charter of Human Rights could not be used against Echelon, but it noted Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) could offer redress to parties injured by Echelon. The article requires signatory governments to monitor foreign intelligence services on their territory. The report raises the question about how diligently the UK and Germany have monitored US intelligence activities on their territory in the past. Consequently, the reports states that there is good reason "to call on Germany and the UK to take their obligations under the ECHR seriously and to make the authorisation of further intelligence activities by the National Security Agency on their territory contingent on compliance with the ECHR." *Sources: Shortly after the EU investigative team's return a document said to be a 92-page draft report on Echelon written before the US visit was posted on the Internet. See: http://cryptome.org/Echelon-ep.htm And, not long after that an updated 113-page draft was officially released. See: http://www.fas.org/irp/program/process/prEchelon_en.pdf <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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