[Fwd: Big Brother is Watching: electronic evesdropping work for USbusiness]

[pubmedia@sirius.com]

[: hacktivism :]

 sort of  "echelon meets wto":

******

US-led spy web used to swing business deals 

     Government News
     Source: Times of India
     Published: 2/15/00 
     Posted on 02/16/2000 08:41:16 PST by technochick99 

WASHINGTON: In what may turn out to be the biggest spy scandal since World
War II, the Pentagon has admitted the existence of a spy network, jointly
operated by the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, capable of
tapping every telephone, fax and e-mail communication in the world. 

Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported that the communication was passed on to
US firms to secure contracts against competition from French, Japanese and
other firms of the non-English speaking world. The information was
allegedly used even against Airbus to favour Boeing though the UK has a
share in Airbus. 

The project, called ``Echelon'', has been in operation since 1947 and
operates from the highly secretive US National Security Agency's (NSA)
Meredith Hill listening station in north Yorkshire. The US and the UK were
the only two original members of the group which was later expanded. 

The UK's role has come under fire, said the paper whose despatch has made
the front page of the Washington Times, as it is the only European
participant in the US-led global electronic espionage. European countries
say that US espionage chiefs abuse `Echelon' to spy on individuals and pass
on commercial secrets to US businesses, the Washington Times said. 

The paper said Thomson CSF of France is among the other reported losers as
a result of exploitation of the information for commercial purposes. 

The US admitted the existence of NSA only recently. Congress votes billions
of dollars for it every year but the amounts are hidden under different
heads. 

In Asia, it said, the US used information gathered from its bases in
Australia to win a half of Indonesia's trade contracts for AT&T that
intercepts showed were initially going to NRC of Japan, Wayne Madsen, a
former NSA agent, told Australian TV. 

NSA's activities are one reason why delegations from developing countries
are at a disadvantage at international conferences, observers here said.
Even before they open their mouths, the Americans will have intercepted
their instructions so that they know in advance how far they can push
them.(PTI)


[: hacktivism :]
[: for unsubscribe instructions or list info consult the list FAQ :]
[: http://hacktivism.tao.ca/ :]