Wired: Echelon Furor Ends in a Whimper

[Owen Lewis]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk
> [mailto:ukcrypto-admin@chiark.greenend.org.uk]On Behalf Of Brian Gladman
> Sent: 06 July 2001 11:52
> To: UK Crypto Posting
> Subject: Re: Wired: Echelon Furor Ends in a Whimper
>

> if press reports are to be believed one outcome of the European Parliament
> study is a conclusion that Echelon is a 'fact of life' and that there is
> little that the EU nations can do to counter it.
>
> If this truly is a conclusion, the European Parliamentary group have been
> badly briefed since nothing could be further from the truth.
>
> But whether it would be in their interests to undermine Echelon is a much
> more difficult issue since the main need for such assets is in areas where
> US and European interests largely coincide.

Quite so, and not just European and US interests perhaps. That this
important point you raise was, seemingly, entirely missed by the EPG - even
to mention, let alone evaluate - is one indication of narrowness of vision
and of purpose in their study and report.
>
> The failure of the US and Europe to seriously discuss these issues is
> dangerous since we need to remove the privacy and industrial/commercial
> espionage concerns raised by Echelon without undermining its
> value in other
> areas.

How would you propose that such a precise sorting of sheep from goats might
be effected? This seems to me to be a fundamental issue and very much at the
heart of the crypto debate.

Owen