this way they select out manageable numbers (hundreds or thousands) of
messages to be searched through and read by the intelligence analysis
staff.
Many people are vaguely aware that a lot of spying occurs, maybe even on
them,
but how do we judge if it is ubiquitous or not a worry at all? Is someone
listening every time we pick up the telephone? Are all Internet or fax
messages being ****ed over continuously by shadowy figures somewhere in a
windowless building? There is almost never any solid information with
which
to judge what is realistic concern and what is silly paranoia.
What follows explains as precisely as possible - and for the first time in
public - how the worldwide system works, just how immense and powerful it
is
and what it can and cannot do. The electronic spies are not ubiquitous,
but
the paranoia is not unfounded.
The global system has a highly secret codename - ECHELON.
The intelligence agencies will be shocked to see it named and described
for
the first time in print.
Each station in the ECHELON network has computers that automatically
search
through millions of intercepted messages for ones containing
pre-programmed
keywords or fax, telex and email addresses. Every word of every message is
automatically searched: they do not need your specific telephone number or
Internet address on the list.
All the different computers in the network are known, within the UKUSA
agencies, as the ECHELON Dicti
