May 29, 2001. Copyright 2001. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

EDS -- Press conference 10am, May 30 on Echelon report. Leaked document says that Britain is in breach of human rights.

Controversial Echelon global spy network in breach of EU privacy laws Ð report

LONDON, May 29, Graphic News: The European Union is about to officially acknowledge the existence of a shadowy global spy network code-named Echelon. 

It is the first time the existence of the U.S.-led eavesdropping network -- which intercepts fax, e-mail, telephone and satellite transmissions across Europe from listening posts in England -- has been confirmed. 

A leaked copy of the EU report concludes a year-long investigation by a committee of the European Parliament into Echelon. The investigation, carried out at the insistence of the French, said there was no longer any doubt about the existence of the network, which is run by the U.S. National Security Agency in collaboration with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The report suggests that Britain is in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the privacy of family life and private correspondence of every citizen in signatory states.

Britain falls foul of the convention for allowing Washington to carry out surveillance of citizens from listening posts such as Menwith Hill in Yorkshire.

The report concludes that EU states Òmust carry out checks to ensure that the activities of intelligence services on their territory do not represent a violation of human rights.Ó

Echelon was first established via a secret treaty with Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand in 1947 as part of the Cold War. Agencies from the five countries exchange intercepts using supercomputers to identify key words and compiling vast data banks said to be capable of storing five trillion pages of text. 

The inquiry was unable to find proof that the American government had used Echelon to spy on European companies for commercial advantage. However, a former CIA chief, James Woolsey, has admitted that the system is used to expose attempts by European firms to win contracts through bribery. 
/ENDS
Sources: Reuters, Associated Press