Re: IS BIG BROTHER READING YOUR E-MAIL (fwd)

[Patrick Riley <priley@newsdigital.com>]

[: hacktivism :]

Hey Megan,

I'm writing about "Jam Echelon Day" today. As a member of the hacktivism
list, would you be available briefly to discuss it? 

Please respond by email or phone.

Thanks.

Patrick Riley
reporter, Foxnews.com
(212) 462-5713



At 04:09 pm 10/21/99 +0000, you wrote:
>[: hacktivism :]
>
>
>
>NEW YORK POST 10-21-99
>
>IS BIG BROTHER 
>READING YOUR E-MAIL? 
>  
> By ROD DREHER 
>  
> WANT to give a big, fat finger to Big Brother today? Fax or e-mail this 
>column to a friend. Be sure to include the following words: 
>
>Unabomber. Anthrax. Fissionable plutonium. North Korea. Militia. Delta
Force. 
>Ruby Ridge. 
>
>If the suspicions of Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), the American Civil Liberties 
>Union and cyber-libertarian "hacktivists" are correct, your fax or e-mail 
>containing those words will have been intercepted by a sophisticated
official 
>electronic monitoring system called "Echelon." 
>
>Echelon is a supersecret global surveillance network, run by the U.S. 
>National Security Agency, in conjunction with the governments of Britain, 
>Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 
>
>Echelon is said to intercept and sift through countless electronic 
>transmissions daily, filtering out those with particular "keywords" that 
>could signal a security threat. The purloined posts are later analyzed. 
>
>Hacktivists around the world have scheduled today as "Jam Echelon Day." 
>They're encouraging computer users to flood the Internet with e-mails 
>containing suspected keywords, hoping the deluge will short-circuit
Echelon's 
>computers and satellites. 
>
>The public will never know if they succeed, but crashing Echelon is not 
>really the point. The protest is meant to raise public awareness about the 
>threat to privacy and civil liberties purportedly posed by the security 
>network, which sounds like something out of the movie "Enemy of the State." 
>
>Although the NSA will neither confirm nor deny Echelon's existence, too much 
>information has leaked out (through official statements and partially 
>declassified government documents) or has been uncovered by journalists and 
>investigators to allow for plausible deniability. 
>
>If reports, including a study by the European Parliament, are correct, 
>Echelon was organized after World War II, chiefly as a way for participating 
>countries to intercept Soviet communications. 
>
>With the Russian threat gone, there is growing evidence and concern that 
>Echelon is being used around the world for commercial espionage and keeping 
>tabs on non-military targets - such as me and thee. 
>
>Groups on both sides of the American political debate, from the ACLU on the 
>left to the Free Congress Foundation on the right, allege that Echelon's 
>technology and structure makes the unregulated monitoring of e-mails, faxes 
>and phone calls possible - this despite laws requiring court permission to 
>eavesdrop on private citizens. 
>
>"The NSA does not have jurisdiction in the U.S., but the way the 
>electronic-communications system is set up, I could send an e-mail to you, 
>and it could be routed through Canada," explains Free Congress' Lisa Dean. 
>"This puts the e-mail under NSA's jurisdiction." 
>
>The potential for Echelon's abuse has so bothered Barr, a former CIA
analyst, 
>that he's pushing for congressional hearings. 
>
>"My concern is that they are sweeping far too broadly," Barr tells me. "I 
>believe that the rights of American citizens are being infringed. 
>
>"The danger is that we have no privacy whatsoever. Whenever you pick up an 
>instrument of communication, you run the risk of the government listening in 
>to you." 
>
>That claim is too far out for Steve Aftergood, who runs the Federation of 
>American Scientists' government-secrecy research project. However overblown 
>he considers the claims of Echelon alarmists, Aftergood supports Barr's call 
>for hearings to establish oversight. 
>
>"Unchecked monitoring and surveillance by the government poses a threat to 
>freedom of dissent," he said. "Even if the whole Echelon story is a 
>hallucination or a hoax, it is nevertheless the responsibility of Congress
to 
>get to the bottom of it." 
>
> 
>
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