[6044] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dave Del Torto)
Wed Nov 10 18:46:53 1999
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Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 13:08:07 -0500
To: coderpunks@toad.com, cypherpunks@algebra.com, cryptography@c2.net
From: Dave Del Torto <info@freedomfighter.net>
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San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks Announcement:
Next Meeting: <http://www.freedomfighter.net/cypherpunks/991113.html>
Meeting Page: <http://www.freedomfighter.net/cypherpunks/physical.html>
............................................................................
SF Bay Area Cypherpunks (80th Chairborne Regiment)
November 1999 Physical Meeting Announcement
General Info:
DATE: Saturday, 13 November 1999
TIME: 12:30 - 05:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time)
PLACE: Stanford University Campus (Palo Alto, California)
Gates Hall for Information Sciences
Room 100
Heads-Up for November!
"Operators Are Standing By..."
We are pleased to announce that the November 1999 Physical Meeting of
the San Francisco Bay Area Cypherpunks will feature a presentation
entitled "Uncovering ECHELON" by none other than Duncan Campbell,
perhaps the subject matter expert among civilian personnel on this
global military intelligence surveillance network.
As always, this is an Open Meeting on US Soil and members of the
Public (and any interested intelligence agencies) are encouraged to
attend.
Uncovering ECHELON
The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand (aka "The UKUSA" since shortly after WWII) cooperatively run
a highly automated, global system for processing "COMINT"
(COMmunications INTelligence) obtained by means of the covert,
unauthorised and often illegal interception of international
communications. This system is now commonly known as ECHELON.
ECHELON --the once-classified codename for project P415, under which
Lockheed and other corporations planned the global automation of this
interception system in the mid-1980s-- is now an integral part of the
largest secure wide area network in the world. Its key component is
DICTIONARY, an information- retrieval system installed at each site
that matches the broadband input of intercepted communications to the
requirements of its customers (i.e. UKUSA intelligence agencies) from
around the world, relaying them automatically to the requester's
chosen agency in any of the participating countries.
COMINT has been practised by almost every advanced nation since
international telecommunications became available. It is a
large-scale industrial activity which is also particularly effective
in providing commercial intelligence. It is a matter of record that
all foreign communications to and from, or passing through, the
United Kingdom and the United States have been intercepted since the
1920s.
In the US in 1975, inquiries instigated in the wake of the Watergate
affair uncovered evidence that the NSA (National Security Agency) had
violated the Fourth Amendment rights of US citizens. Critics of
government policy had been placed on "watch lists" and subjected to
surveillance not only by US intelligence agencies but also by
Britain's GCHQ (General Communications Headquarters, the British
version of the NSA). Today, the "watch lists" have been replaced by
ECHELON's much more efficient DICTIONARY system.
Today, US and allied agencies still spy on targets within and without
the US. The difference is that --within the US-- all such
interceptions are supposed to be legally approved under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act.
But are they? Congress suspects not. This fall, both houses of the US
Congress have tabled resolutions requiring NSA to report on its
compliance with these provisions. The House is also supposed to
conduct an investigation into ECHELON and Fourth Amendment rights, at
the instigation of Republican Representative Bob Barr.
Duncan's talk will describe the scale of international COMINT
actitivies, and will look at whether the methods now used by ECHELON
to monitor the Internet are still in compliance with US law (or not).
Featured Speaker:
Duncan Campbell is a Scottish investigative journalist and TV
producer. In 1988, he first revealed the existence of ECHELON to the
public. Earlier this year (1999), he was appointed a consultant to
the European Parliament and prepared a technology assessment report
on ECHELON and COMINT (see:
<http://www.iptvreports.mcmail.com/stoa_cover.htm>), which contained
the first public documentary evidence of the global surveillance
system. He will soon begin working on another such report for the
anticipated congressional debate in the year 2000 on the topic of
SIGINT agencies (SIGnals INTelligence), the Fourth Amendment and
human rights.
Meeting Agenda:
"Our agenda is a widely-held secret."
12:30 - 1:00 - Hang out, consume food & caffeinated beverages,
check mic levels.
1:00 - 2:00 - "Uncovering ECHELON"
with Duncan Campbell, IPTV, Edinburgh, Scotland
Featuring:
-- Duncan's recent public research on ECHELON
-- Additional countries participating in ECHELON
-- Excerpts of never-before-seen documents that
the NSA definitely doesn't want you to even
know about, much less see...
2:00 - 2:30 - Question & Answer Session with Duncan.
2:30 - 03:00 - "Down Under ECHELON"
with Ross Coulthart, Australia.
-- Ross is the person responsible for the
Australian government's public admission that
ECHELON does exist and that they are part of it.
3:00 - 4:00 - Public Discussion about ECHELON, COMINT, and remote
hardware compromises. Various Cypherpunks will
exchange some of their knowledge on these issues.
4:00 - 5:00 - TBD (chef's surprise!)
5:00 - ? - Dinner at a nearby restaurant usually follows the
meeting.
Location Info:
The meeting will be in Room 100 of Gates Hall for Information
Sciences on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto. The
auditorium should be able to comfortably hold the larger-than-usual
crowd expected for this meeting.
Special thanks to:
Lucky Green <mailto:lucky@cypherpunks.to> for helping to arrange
Duncan's appearance.
Dan Boneh <http://crypto.stanford.edu/~dabo/> Assistant Professor
at Stanford's Department of Computer Science, for
generously providing the meeting room.
Location Maps:
Stanford Campus (overview, Gates Hall highlighted).
<http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/search_map.html?keyword=Gates>
Gates Hall (detail view, Gates Hall centered).
<http://www.stanford.edu/home/map/stanford_zoom_map.html?193,199>
Printable Stanford Map (407k, PDF format).
<http://www.stanford.edu/home/visitors/campus_map.pdf>
Turn-by-turn driving directions can be obtained from Mapquest.
<http://www.mapquest.com>
Additional Meeting Notes:
The December Cypherpunks Physical Meeting will be held at the San
Francisco Police Department Academy in San Francisco and will feature
a rare Cypherpunks Shooting Club visit to the FATS III interactive
firearms training system used by the SFPD. Since access is limited to
small groups and time is short, we'll post an early sign-up message
to the announce list and will log people for slots on the firing line
on a first-come-first-served basis. Be watchful!
If you have questions, please contact the meeting organizers:
Dave Del Torto <mailto:ddt@cryptorights.org>
Bill Stewart <mailto:bill.stewart@pobox.com>
EOF
