Echelon, allegedly a vast information collection system capable of monitoring all the electronic communications in the world, has been talked about in security circles for several years. But no government agency in the world has ever confirmed or denied its existence.
In his presentation, Gerhard Schmid, the German Member of the European Parliament (MEP), told Parliament members that Echelon -- allegedly a joint venture between the governments of the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand -- sucks up electronic transmissions "like a vacuum cleaner," using keyword search techniques to sift through enormous amounts of data.
He said the investigating committee has solid evidence about the way Echelon functions, adding that simply because the surveillance network exists doesnt mean that government agencies can access all the information Echelon collects.
The European Parliament accepted Schmid's teams 130-page-plus report and its 44 recommendations in a 367-159 vote.
Despite the potentially massive invasion of privacy that Echelon represents, Schmid said that the bulk of its activities appear to be used in fighting organized crime, terrorism and drug trafficking. The report recommends that the EU negotiate a set of data privacy rules with the United States similar to those that already exist in EU countries.
It also recommends that, to prevent Echelon-linked agencies from spying on private data, all EU agencies should review their encryption systems for public data transmission.
The Echelon network was publicized widely in late 1999, when the BBC reported that an Australian government official had confirmed its existence.
At the time, the BBC reported that Bill Blick, Australias inspector general of intelligence, confirmed that his countrys Defence Signals Directorate forms part of the Echelon network.
Steve Gold, Newsbytes
