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In the greatest surveillance effort ever established, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has created a global spy system, codename ECHELON, which captures and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax, email and telex message sent anywhere in the world. ECHELON is controlled by the NSA and is operated in conjunction with the Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ) of England, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) of Canada, the Australian Defense Security Directorate (DSD), and the General Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand. These organizations are bound together under a secret 1948 agreement, UKUSA, whose terms and text remain under wraps even today.
The ECHELON system is fairly simple in design: position intercept stations all over the world to capture all satellite, microwave, cellular and fiber-optic communications traffic, and then process this information through the massive computer capabilities of the NSA, including advanced voice recognition and optical character recognition (OCR) programs, and look for code words or phrases (known as the ECHELON “Dictionary”) that will prompt the computers to flag the message for recording and transcribing for future analysis. Intelligence analysts at each of the respective “listening stations” maintain separate keyword lists for them to analyze any conversation or document flagged by the system, which is then forwarded to the respective intelligence agency headquarters that requested the intercept.
But apart from directing their ears towards terrorists and rogue states, ECHELON is also being used for purposes well outside its original mission. The regular discovery of domestic surveillance targeted at American civilians for reasons of “unpopular” political affiliation or for no probable cause at all in violation of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution – are consistently impeded by very elaborate and complex legal arguments and privilege claims by the intelligence agencies and the US government. The guardians and caretakers of our liberties, our duly elected political representatives, give scarce attention to these activities, let alone the abuses that occur under their watch. Among the activities that the ECHELON targets are:
Political spying: Since the close of World War II, the US intelligence agencies have developed a consistent record of trampling the rights and liberties of the American people. Even after the investigations into the domestic and political surveillance activities of the agencies that followed in the wake of the Watergate fiasco, the NSA continues to target the political activity of “unpopular” political groups and our duly elected representatives. One whistleblower charged in a 1988 Cleveland Plain Dealer interview that, while she was stationed at the Menwith Hill facility in the 1980s, she heard real-time intercepts of South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. A former Maryland Congressman, Michael Barnes, claimed in a 1995 Baltimore Sun article that under the Reagan Administration his phone calls were regularly intercepted, which he discovered only after reporters had been passed transcripts of his conversations by the White House. One of the most shocking revelations came to light after several GCHQ officials became concerned about the targeting of peaceful political groups and told the London Observer in 1992 that the ECHELON dictionaries targeted Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and even Christian ministries.
Commercial espionage: Since the demise of Communism in Eastern Europe, the intelligence agencies have searched for a new justification for their surveillance capability in order to protect their prominence and their bloated budgets. Their solution was to redefine the notion of national security to include economic, commercial and corporate concerns. An office was created within the Department of Commerce, the Office of Intelligence Liaison, to forward intercepted materials to major US corporations. In many cases, the beneficiaries of this commercial espionage effort are the very companies that helped the NSA develop the systems that power the ECHELON network. This incestuous relationship is so strong that sometimes this intelligence information is used to push other American manufacturers out of deals in favor of these mammoth US defense and intelligence contractors, who frequently are the source of major cash contributions to both political parties.
While signals intelligence technology was helpful in containing and eventually defeating the Soviet Empire during the Cold War, what was once designed to target a select list of communist countries and terrorist states is now indiscriminately directed against virtually every citizen in the world. The European Parliament is now asking whether the ECHELON communications interceptions violate the sovereignty and privacy of citizens in other countries. In some cases, such as the NSA’s Menwith Hill station in England, surveillance is conducted against citizens on their own soil and with the full knowledge and cooperation of their government.
This report suggests that Congress pick up its long-neglected role as watchdog of the Constitutional rights and liberties of the American people, instead of its current role as lap dog to the US intelligence agencies. Congressional hearings ought to be held, similar to the Church and Rockefeller Committee hearings held in the mid-1970s, to find out to what extent the ECHELON system targets the personal, political, religious, and commercial communications of American citizens. The late Senator Frank Church warned that the technology and capability embodied in the ECHELON system represented a direct threat to the liberties of the American people. Left unchecked, ECHELON could be used by either the political elite or the intelligence agencies themselves as a tool to subvert the civil protections of Constitution and to destroy representative government in the United States.
Wow...I know what you mean by NSA...I remember when I use to have to drive right past that big spooky building...I could just feel the mind control devices probing my thoughts. That's when I first started to wrap tin foil around my head to deflect the signals...but then people started looking at me funny when passing me on the road. So I thought well why don't I just get my windows tinted and that worked great nobody giving me strange looks. I eventually plastered the whole interior of my car just for the extra protection...you can never be tooooo careful...
spooky man...real spooky...
Behold the madness... :D
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean the whole world isn't after me... :eek:
I can't wait until we liberate Australia...surfs up...Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
:eek:
Maybe we will read "Welcome to our newest member, NSA_spy" in the main forum's page, very soon. :lol:
I was talking abuot ECHELON and UKUSA. This is greater and darker than NSA.
However if you want to invade Australia count me in. :D the bad thing is that they already know that because they survey me since this mornung when I used some words they are looking for, like bomb, allah, muslim, etc. :mad:
See the opening sentence....Quote:
Originally Posted by cilu
You... people... are... nuts...
The mans nuts.....grab em....Quote:
Originally Posted by YourSurrogateGod
/They are watching....you
Sure, if you have the latest version of carnivore, then you can pretty much spy on anything ;) .Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
Yeah, bomb us next. We are idiots, please kick our @sses... :p
Don't worry, after Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, you're on our list ;) . We'll flambe your kangaroo behinds.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
Thank you. Thank you. I will cherish every shrapnel of lead that lands on my home and cherish it (unless it kills me). Thank you master. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by YourSurrogateGod
:p
Also see the second and third sentences...Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
its all rubbish cilu.
Plus, its more fun to be cynical than paranoid. :p
Bow before thy God simpleton :D ! For the cruise missiles will strike down the... umm... err... What is it that you people have over there that we can destroy other that kangaroos :ehh: ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
// Looking for oil in Australia...
our straw&mud huts?
Good showing at the olympics for you fellars...49 total I think?Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
It'll do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
We came 4th. Considering the sizes of the countries who came 1st 2nd and 3rd I reckon we kicked A$$!!!! :thumb:
That's what being a hard working self reliant country will do for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
Yeah...
Now if only we could figure out how to make bricks without straw... :sick:
Eat lots of corn and use your poo?Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
Of course!!! You Americans!!! Always one step ahead of us!!!
Psst...hey who's gonna win over there?Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
win what mate?
Why the elections....Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
Don't get me started on that mate, all I'll say about that is I suspect there is some dirty tactics involved and I won't say anymore.
Well you know who I'll be rooting for :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
I think I can guess.
Those crazy swimmers au$$ies did so well in the olympics. Finished on 4th place.
our womens rowing team was a bit of a let down... :thumbd:
Ower rowing women won 3 gold medals in Athens, the same won in Sydney 4 years ago. :thumb: :D
I still think that dolphins are intelligent.
And tasty...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Frohman
Speaking of tasty, I looked out the window Sunday afternoon and saw a big bird (well big compared to sparrows, starlings, cardinals and bluejays), about 20" from head to tail, sitting in my crabapple tree. I grabbed my bird book and looked it up: A Red Tailed hawk. First one I've ever seen in the city. It was waiting for my fellow squirrels and chipmunks. I told him to get lost and he flew away.
You should have flambeed him ;) .Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Frohman
....it's like your stuck up sh*t creak and no matter what you do you can't
get out, you paddle and paddle and then you realize that sh*t creak is inside
of you.....
You need more fiber in your diet.Quote:
Originally Posted by souldog
I've seen a dog yesterday. I think he had leprosy. It looked disgusting.
Thats what.... the romanian buzz word for pink elephants?Quote:
Originally Posted by cilu
More likely, it had mange.Quote:
Originally Posted by cilu
Thit fits exactly for that dog. So, are you a vet or something?Quote:
Originally Posted by WordWeb
No just an animal lover. Dogs, cats, squirrles... you name them.Quote:
Originally Posted by cilu
If I was living in the USA I'd have at least an air rifle... I'd love to see those animals try to loiter around my place then... :eek:
//who da boss now hey?
Right no, I don't have anything to say to you... ;)
Of course shooting at the animals in the city would win you a trip to the slammer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deniz
So go ahead. Do it often.
Shooting at a hawk would also carry a big (Very Big) fine.
So go ahead. Do it often.
You don't have to ask Deniz twice. He will take his gun and go for a killing spree.
Limestone. :thumbd:
Magnesium :thumb: