[forward: EU Parliament Appoints a Committee To Gather Information About Echelon]

[Bas van Gils]

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onderstaande ter kennisgeving over Echelon

m.vr.gr.

        Bas


----- Forwarded message -----
 * Date: 06-07-00
 * Source: Dow Jones Newswires
 * Subject: EU Parliament Appoints a Committee To Gather Information About Echelon
 *
 * The European Parliament renewed its attack on alleged U.S. electronic
 * espionage of European Union companies, appointing a temporary committee
 * that will gather information about the Echelon satellite and eavesdropping
 * network, but stops short of a full investigation. The vote comes on the
 * heels of a French judicial inquiry into alleged American spying opened
 * earlier this week.
 *
 * Echelon is a signals intelligence network capable of intercepting phone and
 * e-mail traffic across the world, operated jointly by the U.S. and the
 * United Kingdom, along with Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The European
 * Parliament has accused the U.S. of using Echelon for commercial espionage
 * against European business, although no company has come forth with a complaint.
 *
 * The temporary committee approved 340-210 in Parliament represents a
 * compromise with a bloc of Green Party and Socialist representatives that
 * wanted a full-blown investigation. The committee will be allowed to collect
 * resources from member states, but will not be allowed to summon witnesses.
 *
 * "There was a great head of steam built up" in Parliament over Echelon, said
 * Graham Watson, chairman of the Parliament's Judicial Affairs Committee.
 * Party leaders "sought to calm the whole thing down by calling for a much
 * more limited inquiry, stopping the European Parliament from playing James
 * Bond politics on such a sensitive issue," Mr. Watson said.
 *
 * Although the committee will have no formal powers, at the end of its
 * yearlong mandate it will issue recommendations, which could range from a
 * full inquiry to suggesting the creation of an EU communications monitoring
 * network with similar capabilities as Echelon.
 *
 * The all-party European Parliament committee will try "to verify the
 * existence" of Echelon, as well as investigating whether the spy ring
 * violates EU privacy laws. The committee will also look at what protection
 * can be offered to Europeans to combat illegal tapping.
 *
 * "It is in danger of being no more than a mere talking shop," said Heidi
 * Hautala, a leader of the Green faction in the Parliament that led the call
 * for a stronger investigation. The Greens had hoped U.S. officials,
 * including Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet or Lt. Gen.
 * Michael V. Hayden, head of the National Security Agency, would have been
 * called to testify before the committee.
 *
 * A U.S. official insisted that there is sufficient oversight of signals
 * intelligence, and said some factions of the European Parliament might be
 * motivated by Echelon as a "political touchstone" rather than serious
 * questions about industrial spying.
 *
 * "The U.S. denies the allegation that intelligence is gathered and given to
 * American companies," the official said. "That doesn't happen."
 *
 * French authorities, who have been the most critical of Echelon, started a
 * preliminary investigation of their own by a state prosecutor, which won't
 * necessarily lead to legal action, a spokesman for prosecutor Jean-Pierre
 * Dintilhac said.
 *
 * The preliminary inquiry was begun in response to a letter by a French
 * center-right member of the European Parliament, Thierry Jean-Pierre, who
 * alleged Echelon was potentially prejudicial to French nationals and to
 * France's economic interests. Mr. Dintilhac has ordered the state
 * counterintelligence agency DST to find out whether Echelon's activities
 * could be qualified under French law as "harmful to the vital interests of
 * the nation."
 *
 * Write to Thanassis Cambanis at thanassis.cambanis at dowjones.com
 *

----- End forwarded message -----

--
             Bas van Gils  -  <bvg at linuxfan.com> - PGP on request
                         http://www.linuxfan.com/~bvg
                           phone: +31 (0)6 24614919

              Two is not three. Not even for large values of two.

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