Proof of Echelon System

www.fas.org...

Update:
Your headquarter for Echelon Info.
www.fas.org...


Once again seeing as I have already posted 5 new links in my Corporation thread and this is an extremely interesting issue, I decided to put this tid bit out on its own thread.

Several reports sponsored by the European Parliament have alleged that NSA operates an international sigint collection effort, known as Echelon, that intercepts communications worldwide in order to provide economic intelligence to U.S. corporations. On July 5, 2000, the European Parliament voted to undertake a further investigation of Echelon; the resultant draft report on Echelon was made public on May 18, 2001. Maintaining that NSA operates in accordance with existing statutes and executive orders, senior U.S. officials have strongly disputed claims that intelligence agencies assist U.S. corporations competing with foreign firms. They acknowledge, however, that intelligence agencies collect information regarding the use of bribery and other illegal efforts by foreign firms in competition with U.S. corporations. Indications of such foreign efforts are provided to the State and Commerce Departments. (See CRS Report RS20444, Project Echelon: U.S. Electronic Surveillance Efforts, by Richard A. Best, Jr.; Updated March 2, 2000.)



Only another link to corporations and the government if you ask me.

The eschelon system has been official for years. In britain it was recently brought into the media spotlight after a worker for GCHQ (The UK equivilent of the NSA) revealed that it was being used to spy on the UN. It is no longer secret, everybody knows and is willing to admit it exists, even the UK governement who is the USA's most prominent partner in the project.

The only conspiracy surrounding it is how much it is being used to spy on us, the innocent populations of each country, and our phone calls, emails etc, and how much it is being used for corporate purposes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Australian Govt. confirm the existence of the Echelon system?