Adam
05-25-02, 04:52 AM
I'm watching a television documentary right now called Echelon: Secret Power. Now you've all probably heard all the stories about this business, but I thought I might put in my own two little cents about it.
Nations, militaries, intelligence groups, and trading companies have for thousands of years spied on each other and on the general public, and have traded information and such. This is nothing new. Gathered information is shared among those with common interests.
This show claimes the following groups make up Echelon:
NSA - U.S.A.
GCHQ - Britain.
CSE - Canada.
DSD - Australia.
GCSB - N.Z.
However, the fact is this information is gathered and shared by more groups than you could possibly name. Diplomats in embassies talking over drinks, corporate lunches, an Australian sub off the coast of China, AFP personnel tapping phone lines, a phone call from a bureaucrat in Washington to another in London... It goes on and on. There is no defined organisation to all this. Alliances and the limits of intelligence sharing chance almost daily, and so does the make-up of this supposed "Echelon" system.
In the navy I used to listen to all sorts of communications. I rarely recorded or reported any of it. Why? Most of it simply doesn't matter. Does anybody really think we give a damn what movie you're going out to see tonight? Or with who? Let's face it, unless you mentioned something like "Usama Bin Laden" or "I have a nuclear warhead", nobody gives a damn.
Everyone listens. Only a tiny fraction of what is said is actually ends up being heard by humans. Relevant information is shared when it's thought necessary for whatever reason.
Is it a good thing? Ask the families of those 3000+ dead people from New York. I personally was involved in stopping a ship carrying about AU$93 million of heroine; I caught it just as it made port in Australia. How? By listening, watching, and passing on information.
We do need limits to protect personal privacy. Nobody wants those big screens from 1984 in their homes. But, again, most of what you say or do simply doesn't matter to this supposed "Big Brother".
Nations, militaries, intelligence groups, and trading companies have for thousands of years spied on each other and on the general public, and have traded information and such. This is nothing new. Gathered information is shared among those with common interests.
This show claimes the following groups make up Echelon:
NSA - U.S.A.
GCHQ - Britain.
CSE - Canada.
DSD - Australia.
GCSB - N.Z.
However, the fact is this information is gathered and shared by more groups than you could possibly name. Diplomats in embassies talking over drinks, corporate lunches, an Australian sub off the coast of China, AFP personnel tapping phone lines, a phone call from a bureaucrat in Washington to another in London... It goes on and on. There is no defined organisation to all this. Alliances and the limits of intelligence sharing chance almost daily, and so does the make-up of this supposed "Echelon" system.
In the navy I used to listen to all sorts of communications. I rarely recorded or reported any of it. Why? Most of it simply doesn't matter. Does anybody really think we give a damn what movie you're going out to see tonight? Or with who? Let's face it, unless you mentioned something like "Usama Bin Laden" or "I have a nuclear warhead", nobody gives a damn.
Everyone listens. Only a tiny fraction of what is said is actually ends up being heard by humans. Relevant information is shared when it's thought necessary for whatever reason.
Is it a good thing? Ask the families of those 3000+ dead people from New York. I personally was involved in stopping a ship carrying about AU$93 million of heroine; I caught it just as it made port in Australia. How? By listening, watching, and passing on information.
We do need limits to protect personal privacy. Nobody wants those big screens from 1984 in their homes. But, again, most of what you say or do simply doesn't matter to this supposed "Big Brother".