_________  SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE THIRTY ONE JULY 2000   __________
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 /	                   Echelon                                  \
/                          by Mafu                                   \
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Readers Beware part II!!!!!

Project Echelon is perhaps THE most powerful intelligence gathering org.
in the world.  There has been several credible reports that suggest
that the global electronic communications surveillance system presents
an EXTREME threat to the privacy of ppl everywhere.  According to the
reports ECHELON attempts to capture staggering volumes of satellite,
microwave, cellular and fiber-optic traffic including communications
to and from North America, the its processed through sophisticated
filtering technologies

Apparently the system has little oversight.  The agencies that supposedly
run ECHELON have provided few details to the legal guidelines. Because
of this; there is no way of knowing if ECHELON is illegal.

ECHELON is an automated global interception and relay system operated
by the intelligence agencies in five nations: the United States, the
nited Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (it is believed that
ECHELON is the code name for the portion of the system that intercepts
satellite-based communications). While the United States National Security
Agency (NSA) takes the lead, ECHELON works in conjunction with other
intelligence agencies, including the Australian Defence Signals Directorate
(DSD). It is believed that ECHELON also works with Britain's Government
Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the agencies of other allies of the
United States, pursuant to various treaties.  These countries coordinate
their activities pursuant to the UKUSA agreement, which dates back to 1947.
The original ECHELON dates back to 1971.  

It has been suggested that ECHELON may intercept as many as 3 billion
communications  everyday, including phone calls, e-mail messages, Internet
downloads, satellite transmissions, and so on. 

for more info check out: http://www.aclu.org/echelonwatch/
this is where I got all the details from

 - Mafu
"Take care and watch out in the shadows..."