-Caveat Lector-
(http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/politics/story/22102.
html)
Hackers Ascend Upper 'Echelon'
by James Glave
3:00 a.m. 6.Oct.99.PDT
Mossad. Bomb. Davidian. MI5.
If the hunch of a loose-knit group of
cyber-activists is correct, the above
words will trip the keyword recognition
filter on a global spy system partly
managed by the US National Security
Agency.
The near-mythical worldwide computer
spy network reportedly scans all email,
packet traffic, telephone conversations
-- and more -- around the world, in an
effort to ferret out potential terrorist or
enemy communications.
See also: Spying on the Spies
Once plucked from the electronic cloud,
certain keywords allegedly trigger a
recording of the conversation or email in
question.
Privacy activists have used the words in
their signature files for years as a running
schtick, but on 21 October, a group of
activists orginating on the "hacktivist"
mailing list hope to to trip up Echelon on
a much wider scale.
"What is [Echelon] good for?" asked Linda
Thompson, a constitutional rights
attorney and chairman of the American
Justice Federation.
"If you want to say we can catch
criminals with it, it is insane that anyone
should be able to snoop on anyone's
conversations."
"Criminals ought to be caught after they
commit a crime -- but police are not here
to invade all our privacy to catch that
two percent [of criminal
communications]," she said.
A 1994 report by the Anti-Defamation
League described Thompson as "an
influential figure in the militia movement
nationally." The report says the American
Justice Federation describes itself as "a
group dedicated to stopping the New
World Order and getting the truth out to
the American public."
The Anti-Defamation League says
Thompson claims to have contact with
militias in all 50 states.
On 21 October, Thompson, along with
Doug McIntosh, a reporter for the
federation's news service, and members
of the hacktivism mailing list community,
invite anyone concerned about the
system to append a list of intriguing
words to their emails.
Specifically, they suggest the following
keywords:
FBI CIA NSA IRS ATF BATF DOD WACO
RUBY RIDGE OKC OKLAHOMA CITY
MILITIA GUN HANDGUN MILGOV ASSAULT
RIFLE TERRORISM BOMB DRUG HORIUCHI
KORESH DAVIDIAN KAHL POSSE
COMITATUS RANDY WEAVER VICKIE
WEAVER SPECIAL FORCES LINDA
THOMPSON SPECIAL OPERATIONS GROUP
SOG SOF DELTA FORCE CONSTITUTION
BILL OF RIGHTS WHITEWATER POM PARK
ON METER ARKANSIDE IRAN CONTRAS
OLIVER NORTH VINCE FOSTER PROMIS
MOSSAD NASA MI5 ONI CID AK47 M16 C4
MALCOLM X REVOLUTION CHEROKEE
HILLARY BILL CLINTON GORE GEORGE
BUSH WACKENHUT TERRORIST TASK
FORCE 160 SPECIAL OPS 12TH GROUP
5TH GROUP SF
The campaign has spread around the Net
and has been translated into German.
Organizers hope "gag Echelon day"
catches on on a global scale as a means
of raising awareness of the system.
Neither the NSA, nor its UK equivalent --
the Government Communications
Headquarters -- has admitted that the
system exists, although its capabilities
have been debated in the European
Parliament.
Australia's Defense Signals Directorate,
an agency allegedly involved in Echelon,
recently admitted the existence of
UKUSA, the agreement between five
national communications agencies that
reportedly governs the system.
Last fall, the Washington-based civil
liberties group Free Congress Foundation
sent a detailed report on the system to
Congress, but the system was not
debated.
The latest effort hopes to further boost
public awareness of the system.
"Most people are angry about it," said
Thompson. "When you find out it is not
some science fiction movie, most people
will be outraged."
But an Australian member of the activist
community hopes that "jam Echelon day"
will be about public awareness of
technologies of political control, not
about generating paranoia.
"Public awareness should empower -- not
scare people aware from using the Net,"
the activist, who identified himself only as
Sam, said.
Editor's Note: This Story has been
corrected. The Jam Echelon Day project
will be held 21 October, and coordinated
by members of the Hacktivism mailing
list. The article had incorrectly suggested
that the American Justice Federation had
organized the event. Wired News regrets
the error.
Related Wired Links:
Big Brother Taps the Bitstream
7.Apr.99
Europe Is Listening
2.Dec.98
Spying on the Spies
27.Oct.98
Did EU Scuttle Echelon Debate?
5.Oct.98
Eavesdropping on Europe
30.Sep.98
===========================
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"Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong." Dennis Miller
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/5285/connector1.html
Reality Pump: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/Reality_Pump2
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