🚀 go-pugleaf

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

system, they found there were no formal controls over who
could be targeted; junior staff were able to feed in target names to be
searched for by the computers without any check of their authorization to
do so.

None of this is surprising and it is likely to be insignificant compared with
official abuse of the system.

The capabilities of the ECHELON system are so great, and the secrecy
surrounding it makes it so impervious to democratic oversite, that the
temptation to use it for questionable projects seems irresistible.


In June 1992 a group of current 'highly placed intelligence operatives' from
the British GCHQ spoke to the paper Observer: 'We feel we can no longer remain
silent regarding that which we regard to be gross malpractice and negligence
within the establishment in which we operate.'

They gave as examples GCHQ interception of three charitable organizations,
including Amnesty International and Christian Aid. As the Observer reported:

     "At any time GCHQ is able to home in on their communications for a
     routine target request," the GCHQ source said. In this case of phone
     taps the procedure is known as Mantis. With the telexes this is
     called Mayfly. By keying in a code relating to Third World aid, the
     source was able to demonstrate telex 'fixes' on the three organizations.

     We can then sift through those communications further by selecting
     keywords to search for.

Without actually naming it, this was a fairly precise description of how
the ECHELON Dictionary system works.

Note that it was being used for telephone calls.

Again, what was not revealed in the publicity was that this is a UKUSA-wide
system. The design of the ECHELON system means that the intercep


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 1.2.3

YQr6LIuGL7VJuSlNbfpo5FNVJUbLeyjwL51cIpLYhs1avhrHGFpwFlPqQQsuURXF
dEQc9V4KsLLvhr13NdBavxk1sr5cx+LEwfBsr6vDguxrILJGXNO8n025TclAgyxD
ColaMnmz1x6bjqIy5nXOOT3DtoZ9n+0Rm9mKc28JsPjbXSwLi/g4h1qze2rWyFL5
Nyr31i+zM0O5+h==
=ECGg
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----