Whats a Satellite or Two among Friends?
Earlier this week, the European Union (EU) Parliament set up a committee to look into the operations of the Echelon satellite and eavesdropping network, a move that fell just shy of a direct accusation that the United States is conducting electronic espionage of EU companies. Appointment of the “temporary committee” by the EU Parliament came shortly after the launch of a French judicial inquiry into alleged American spying. Echelon is a satellite intelligence network capable of intercepting phone and e-mail traffic from across the globe. The system is operated jointly by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The EU committee is charged with determining Echelon’s legality, and whether “European business interests are being or might be harmed by the system by way of economic espionage,” according to published reports. A U.S. official insisted there are adequate controls on the system and that no intelligence is ever passed along to American companies,
