[4866] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Connected: Espionage Springtime for spies and cops ...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Toxic Waste)
Thu Jun 10 10:45:02 1999
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 17:33:06 +0300 (EEST)
From: Toxic Waste <waste@zor.hut.fi>
To: cryptography@c2.net
Connected: Espionage Springtime for spies and cops Advances in technology and
acquiescent legislators have given law enforcement and national security
agencies unprecedented powers to monitor our conversations and track our
movements, says Simon Davies
(Daily Telegraph London; 06/10/99)
These are exciting times for conspiracy theorists. Never before has so much
been revealed about the most secret inner workings of government.
Few people could have missed the recent mass of revelations about the vast
web of covert national security operations in Britain and abroad. Secret spy
bases, endemic surveillance of the telephone system and tales of astounding
technology spying on our private lives have become dinner-table talk.
The floodgates were opened by a 1997 report to the European Parliament,
confirming the existence of Echelon, a huge network of spy installations that
routinely trawls the entire global telecommunications system, using
supercomputers to search through millions of messages and phone calls for key
words.
More than one government has been embarrassed by the report's disclosures
about the activities of the secret American spy base at Menwith Hill in
Yorkshire, which eavesdrops on most European communications. The existence of
Echelon has been confirmed by the Australian government.
Reaction to the report was swift. On September 14, the plenary session of
the European Parliament, convening in Strasbourg, took the unprecedented step
of openly debating the activities of RAF Menwith Hill and the American National
Security Agency (**NSA**). MEPs demanded more openness and accountability of
this once hidden activity.
Bravo for democracy? Not really. Earlier this year, that same parliament
approved laws that will force all telecommunications companies in Europe to
make their equipment "wiretap friendly", in effect making them agents of the
state. In doing so, the parliament has laid the foundations for a massive
eavesdropping system, capable of intercepting all mobile phones, Internet
communications, fax messages and pagers throughout Europe.
The system, known as Enfopol, will be aided by a "subject tagging" system
capable of tracking "targets" wherever they travel. Known as the "International
User Requirements for Interception" (IUR), the tagging system will create a
data-processing and transmission network that involves not only the names,
addresses and phone numbers of targets and associates, but email addresses,
credit-card details, PINs and passwords. The system will also merge mobile
phone data to create a comprehensive geographic location tracking system.
The plan was drawn up in secret by police and justice officials as part of a
Europe-wide strategy to create a seamless web of telecommunications
surveillance across all national boundaries. The strategy was devised by
national security agencies and by the FBI, which instigated with Brussels a top-
secret planning organisation called the International Law Enforcement
Telecommunications Seminar (Ilets). In time the two technical systems - one
designed for national security and one for law enforcement - will merge, and in
the process will finally eliminate national control over surveillance
activities.
At first sight, these revelations are startling. But Europe and the United
States have been spying together for many years. In 1947, in the face of the
Soviet threat, the governments of Britain, America, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand signed a security pact known as the "Quadripartite", or "United Kingdom
- United States" (UKUSA) agreement. It is probably one of the most secret
documents in the world.
Under its terms, the five nations carved up the world into five spheres of
influence, and each was assigned particular targets (Britain, for example, was
responsible for intercepting the Chinese, through its Hong Kong listening post,
while America was given other responsibilities to cover from its listening
posts in Taiwan, Japan and Korea).
The UKUSA Agreement standardised terminology, codewords, intercept handling
procedures; arrangements for cooperation, sharing of information and access to
facilities.
The exchange of data and personnel was an important component of the
agreement. **NSA** staff from Fort Meade could work from Menwith Hill, or even
the Canberra facilities of Australia's Defence Signals Directorate, to
intercept local communications, without either nation having formally to
approve or disclose the interception. The prime objective of this arrangement
was to ensure that all communications throughout the world could be
intercepted for the benefit of the signatories.
But the birth of digital communications and the Internet created new
headaches for the alliance. Accordingly, since the Eighties, the British and
American governments have engineered a worldwide effort to boost the capability
of their intelligence services to eavesdrop on personal conversations. The
campaign has two legal strategies: the first is to make it mandatory for all
digital telephone switches, cellular and satellite phones and all developing
communication technologies to incorporate surveillance capabilities; the second
seeks to limit the dissemination of encryption software.
In the late Eighties, in a programme known internally as "Operation Root
Canal", American law enforcement officials demanded that telephone companies
change their equipment to facilitate the interception of messages. The
companies refused, but in 1994, after several years of lobbying, Congress
enacted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (Calea).
Calea requires that terrestrial carriers, cellular phone services and other
entities ensure that all their "equipment, facilities or services" are capable
of expeditiously enabling the government to intercept "all wire and oral
communications carried by the carrier concurrently with their transmission".
Communications must be interceptable in such a form that they could be
transmitted to a remote government facility. Manufacturers must work with
industry and law enforcement to ensure that their equipment meets federal
standards. A court can fine a company $10,000 a day for each product that does
not comply.
While the FBI lobbied Congress and pressured American companies into
accepting a tougher Calea, it also leant on American allies to adopt it as an
international standard. Europe was the primary target. Since the Seventies,
Brussels has taken steps to create a supra- national policing system for
Europe. The Schengen system removed the impediment of national borders, and the
creation of Europol gives Europe its own version of the FBI.
The most recent events have been confirmed by a new European Parliament
study - Interception Capabilities 2000 - released last month. In 1991, the FBI
held a series of secret meetings with EU member states to persuade them to
incorporate Calea into European law. Washington is now pushing the
International Telecommunications Union to adopt the standards globally.
The second part of the global strategy was to ensure that intelligence and
police agencies could understand every communication they intercepted. They
attempted to impede the development of cryptography and other security
measures, fearing that these technologies would reduce their ability to monitor
the emissions of foreign governments and to investigate crime.
The result of these efforts has been twofold. First, national borders have
disintegrated. National security agencies can now intercept any communication
worldwide. Second, the distinction between traditional police and security
agencies has been blurred. The future is a seamless, borderless, surveillance
web which touches all facets of our communication.
Words to watch
Echelon A global monitoring system under the auspices of the American
National Security Agency, designed to search phone calls, emails, telexes and
faxes for key words.
Enfopol A massive eavesdropping system capable of intercepting all mobile
phone calls, Internet communications, fax messages and pagers throughout
Europe.
IUR "International User Requirements for Interception" - a tagging system,
currently being designed, to create a data processing and transmission network
to track suspects. The system will also merge mobile phone data to create a
comprehensive geographic location tracking system.
Europol The European equivalent of the American Federal Bureau of
Investigation; formed to tackle the international drugs trade but has recently
had its mandate widened.
UKUSA The secret signals intelligence agreement set up in 1947 that divided
the world into five regions to be watched over by Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Britain and America.
Calea Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act - an American law
that requires phone operators to help the government intercept traffic. The EU
is under pressure to adopt a similar measure.
(Copyright 1999 (c) The Telegraph plc, London)
_____via IntellX_____
{A2:DailyTelegraphLondon-0610.00556} 06/10/99
