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Tuesday, 29 May, 2001, 13:00 GMT 14:00 UK

Q&A: What you need to know about Echelon

A European Parliamentcommittee has advisedcomputer users to

encrypt all their e-mailsif they want to avoidbeing spied on by theEchelon eavesdroppingnetwork. BBC NewsOnline technologycorrespondent MarkWard looks further.

What is Echelon?

Echelon is the name given to an internationalelectronic eavesdropping network run by theintelligence organisations of the US, UK, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand.

It is thought that within intelligence organisations the

name "Echelon" only refers to the part of the networkthat intercepts satellite communications, but it hasnow become associated with the global tapping grid.

The inter-governmental agreement that gave rise toEchelon dates back to 1947 when the nations thatnow operate it signed accords agreeing to share andswap intelligence data.

The first Echelon network was built in 1971, but it hasregularly been updated since then. The US NationalSecurity Agency (NSA) is thought to be the drivingforce behind the network.

Civil rights groups who monitor Echelon say it can beused to intercept almost any electronic

communication, be it a phone conversation, mobilephone call, e-mail message, fax transmission, netbrowsing history, or satellite transmission.

The wildest estimates of its capabilities report that itcan sift through up to 90% of all internet traffic.

How does it work?

Echelon is not thought to be a real-time tappingnetwork. Instead it captures all the traffic it can andthen sifts through it for keywords or anything theintelligence services deem to be "suspicious".

The network can apparently capture data in severalways. It uses terrestrial radio antennae that intercept

satellite transmissions, and is also thought to have itsown fleet of satellites that dip into transmissionsbetween cities.

It also has many sites around the world that tap intocommunications conducted via wires.

"Sniffing" devices are thought to have been installedin key internet routing centres to catch addressinginformation from the packets of data passing through.

Data beamed along fibre-optic networks is not thoughtto be safe either. The NSA has reportedly developeddevices that can tap optical undersea cables.

These deep water cables have replaced satellites asthe main way that data t ravels between continents.One cable can carry tens of thousands of phone callsat once. One fibre-tap was discovered in 1982, butmany others are thought to be in existence.

The recently published European Parliament report onEchelon played down some of the wilder claims for the network's eavesdropping abilities and said i t can

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See also:

06 Jul 00 | EuropeEchelon: Big brother withouta cause?03 Nov 99 | WorldEchelon spy networkrevealed30 Mar 00 | EuropeUS denies stealing businesssecrets29 May 01 | EuropeE-mail users warned over

spy network29 May 01 | EuropeWarning for UK over spynetwork23 Feb 00 | WorldFrance accuses US of spyingInternet links:

Echelon WatchEuropean Parliament reporton EchelonFederation of AmericanScientists on Echelon

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tap a "limited" proportion of net traffic, radiocommunications and cable transmissions.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

The sheer volume of data that Echelon has to siftthrough can help you hide. If you really want to stayanonymous use only payphones or buy a pre-paymobile phone that doesn't require you to give anaddress when you buy it.

Consider changing to a net service provider that youcan use anonymously, and does not assign you afixed net address.

You can use encryption software to protect your e-mail messages, but as most messages are notprotected this might make it a target for the securityservices.

It is likely that the intelligence agencies can crackopen most commercially available encryptionsoftware. Even if they can't, the many holes andsecurity bugs found in most software packages render them much easier to circumvent.

Echelon could be defeated by the ubiquitous networktechnologies that are currently being developed. Onereason that phone calls are easy to tap is because

they directly link two people. However the rise of thenet radically changes the way that data is packagedup and sent.

Over the net, and more so with future phone networks,packets of data take a circuitous route to their destination. The proliferation of these networks willmake it harder and harder for security forces to tap allof a data st ream.

What does it look for?

Beyond the network of radio antenna, fleets of satellites and wiretaps, Echelon is thought to use alarge computer network to sif t through the vast pool of data it constantly collects.

This computer system looks for key words, phrases,addresses and names. This helps the intelligenceagencies build up a picture of the communication andcontact networks of people it deems suspicious or requiring watching.

Echelon was originally developed to help spies keepwatch on the intelligence agencies and agents of opposing powers. With the end of the Cold War thefocus has changed from espionage to surveillance of terrorists, organised crime, sensitive diplomaticnegotiations such as treaty agreements and domesticpolitical groups deemed to be a threat.

Why don't we know about it?

It is a secret network, and governments are verysensitive about accusations that they are increasinglyspying on the largely innocent elect roniccommunications of millions of their citizens. The USGovernment still refuses to admit that Echelon evenexists.

Knowledge about its existence has come from the Australian and New Zealand governments as well asthe efforts of many civil liberty groups.

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