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:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Bill Stewart <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> EOF
