Echelon is said to be a covert surveillance program used to
monitor foreign communications. Run by the US government in
co-operation with the UK, Australia and New Zealand, it allegedly
sifts through electronic data by using keyword searches, and,
according to reports, has been used by US companies to monitor
European business communications in order to gain a competitive
advantage. Its existence has never previously been confirmed or
denied by any government.
The report presented to the Parliament confirmed a previous
statement that Echelon does exist. It calls on the US government to
negotiate an agreement with the EU to respect the privacy rights of
individual citizens. It also urges European Union citizens to
protect their on-line privacy by using encryption software.
Mr Likkanen told the parliament that if the Echelon surveillance
system is being abused for the purpose of gathering competitive
intelligence . He said: "In so far as Community law is concerned,
such activity could fall within the scope of the data protection
directives. This is the case if data gathered by Echelon type
systems is collected or subsequently passed on to commercial
undertakings for purposes unrelated to the prevention of criminal
offences and unrelated to State security matters."
He added that in June this year, the Commission adopted a
Communication on Network and Information Security which looked to
tackle the problem of a lack of awareness among European firms and
citizens over potential network security risks. The Communication
identifies certain areas in which action needs to be taken to
develop a European wide approach to network security.
These areas include raising public awareness of security risks,
promoting a set of best practices, and creating a European warning
and information system to support the Computer Emergency Response
Teams (CERTs). The Communication also recommends that the EU should
examine how to best organise co-ordinated measures to respond to
security threats, whilst setting up an inventory of all national
laws taken to combat the problem.
