Is there an offhand reference to ECHELON in the second paragraph? National Counterintelligence Center Counterintelligence News and Developments Volume 3 September 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.nacic.gov/cind/SEPT98.htm More on French Spying The French magazine Le Point reported in mid-June that France systematically listens in on the telephone conversations and cable traffic of many businesses based in the United States and other nations. The article also reports the French Government uses a network of listening stations to eavesdrop and pass on commercial secrets to French businesses competing in the global economy. The article goes on to state that the French secret service, DGSE, has established listening posts in the Dordogne (Southern France) and also in its overseas territories, including French Guiana and New Caledonia. The article attributes to an unnamed "senior official within this branch of the French secret service" the claim, "This is the game of the secret war," adding that U.S. listening posts do the same. The magazine report says Germans who bought into the French Helios 1A spy satellite system are being given access to political and economic secrets as part of a Franco-German agreement to compete with a commercial information agreement between the United States and Britain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mexican Hackers Mount Attack According to an August 1998 Reuters report, a small group of computer hackers have declared electronic war on the Mexican state. They have plastered the face of revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata on the Finance Ministry's Web site and claim to have monitored visits by Mexican Senators to X-rated Internet sites. They also have vowed to attack official databases for incriminating numbers and publicize government bank accounts, cellular phone conversations, and e-mail addresses. So far the cyber pirates, who say they are a trio of Mexicans, appear to be more a nuisance than a serious threat, but they are serving as a wake-up call for computer security in Mexico, experts said. One of the hackers stated during an online interview with Reuters that "We protest with the weapons we have and those weapons are computers." The hackers surfaced in February when visitors to the Finance Ministry's official Web site were surprised to find Zapata staring back at them.