Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 19:55:36 +0200 From: Nizkor English Service <nzkspain@teleline.es> Reply-To: nzkspain@derechos.org Nizkor Int. Human Rights Team Derechos Human Rights Serpaj Europe Information 30mar00 NEW EVIDENCE ON THE EXISTENCE OF ECHELON IS SUBMITTED AND THE EU PARLIAMENT IS ASKED TO SET UP AN INQUIRY COMMITTEE ON THE SYSTEM. Council and Commission statements. Commission and Council will be making statements on the global telecommunications interception network. Echelon is allegedly operated by the US National Security Agency and the British intelligence service GCHQ and there have been claims that it is not only used for military purposes but also for industrial espionage which has led to European companies losing major contracts. Apart from the US and the UK three other countries are cooperating within Echelon - Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is alleged that telecommunications transmitted by short-wave radio, satellite, submarine cable and the internet are being routinely intercepted and processed by largely unmanned computers. Intercepted messages are filtered through the "Echelon Dictionaries", which contain a variety of selection criteria. There is particular concern about the lack of democratic oversight on data being intercepted, filtered and stored within Echelon. Parliament's Scientific and Technical Operations Unit commissioned a report into Echelon. At the time of writing the Green Group is currently seeking enough signatures to request a parliamentary enquiry into the system. A quarter of the total number of MEPs is required to secure this. [Source: EUROPARL: Info Session - Briefing: 29-03-00(b) - Interception of telecommunications - ECHELON] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- ii) THE GREEN GROUP IN THE PARLIAMENT FOUND SUFFICIENT SUPPORT TO DEMAND A PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY ON ECHELON. The Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament presented today a list of 172 signatures of Members of European Parliament of all political groups, supporting the establishment of a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on Echelon. This means there are enough signatures for an official demand on an inquiry on Echelon, an espionage system operated by the US, the UK and other countries. The existence of Echelon was revealed in the STOA-Reports [ http://www.iptvreports.mcmail.com/stoa_cover.htm ]. According to parliamentary rules, a quarter of the total number of members of parliament (which equals 157 members) is required for a demand on an inquiry. The list of signatories is now sent to the president of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine. According to the rules, it's now up to the Parliaments Conference of Presidents (an organ consisting of the presidents of all political groups) to make a recommendation for an inquiry, which will then be voted upon in the plenary. Therefore, it is not sure the inquiry will be actually held. A majority of the Parliament has to vote for it. "Echelon poses a serious threat to democracy, citizens rights and business interests," said Paul Lannoye, co-President of the Green/EFA Group at a press conference in Brussel. "The Greens want to know if the EU Commission and the Council have done enough to protect EU citizens from being spied on in their professional and private lives." According to Heidi Hautala (Greens), there is enough evidence [ http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/co/6662/1.html ] that Echelon exists and works: "Two tears ago, Commissionair Bangemann simply denied the existence of Echelon, and his successor Frits Bokkestein is continuing to do so. The EU Commission has to wake up to reality. We call upon the EU Commission and Council to show more transparancy in this question and so help to shed light on the legal grey zone in which telecommunication interception is practised." [See European Parliament Resolution B4-0803, 0805, 0806, 0809/98, dated 16sep98 - Ref: Transatlantic Relations / Echelon System] Tomorrow, The EU Commission and Council will be making statements on Echelon. [Source: Jelle van Buuren. Verlag Heinz Heise, Hannover. 29mar00] ------------------------------------------------------------------ USEFUL LINKS: - International campaign against Echelon Global System: EchelonWatch http://www.aclu.org/echelonwatch/index.html - Global Internet Liberty Campaign - GILC (Main issues: free speech, privacy, cryptography, access) http://www.gilc.org/ - Report on International Status of Privacy: "Privacy and Human Rights 1999". Electronic Privacy Information Center Washington, DC, USA.Privacy International London, UK http://www.privacyinternational.org/survey/ - "Cryptography and Liberty 1999: An international Survey of Encryption Policy". Electronic Privacy Information Center Washington, DC http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto1999.html#_Toc450793110 - "An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control". Scientific and Technological Options Assessment - STOA. 06jan98. http://cryptome.org/stoa-atpc.htm - Echelon: Development of surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information - STOA reports - PDF Files - 10/1999 - European Parliament [ENG/ING] http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg4/stoa/en/publi/default.htm - ---------------------------------- Send mail for the 'huridocs-tech' list to 'huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Mail administrative requests to 'majordomo@hrea.org'. For additional assistance, send mail to: 'owner-huridocs-tech@hrea.org'. Archives of previous messages posted to the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/huridocs-tech/markup/maillist.html
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