Echelon, Diana, Wassenaar
The Wash Post today has picked up the hot European story of NSA's file on Princess Diana and linked it to the NSA's Echelon program. http://jya.com/nsa-diana.htm This is the first US major media story on Echelon, and its connection to privacy invasion of a global celebrity icon may do more to get public attention for the vile program than any previous investigation and report. NSA claims Diana was not a "target" and that the 1,000 pages of data on her were gathered "incidental" to other activities. But, as with all the TLA snooping, it is this incidental surveillance of the innocent that all the calls for loosening of encrypton controls is about. After all the near-futile efforts of investigators to bring Echelon out into the open, and counterefforts of pols and spooks cloak it, the Diana hook may the "Gone With The Wind" popularizer that finally energizes a genuine borad-based opposition, and, may very well be the kickoff to global demand for encryption to protect privacy worldwide and maybe even in the US. What wonderful cloubreak to let sunshine into the dark halls of Wassenaar and FT Meade spookdoms.
John Young wrote:
The Wash Post today has picked up the hot European story of NSA's file on Princess Diana and linked it to the NSA's Echelon program.
This is the first US major media story on Echelon, and its connection to privacy invasion of a global celebrity icon may do more to get public attention for the vile program than any previous investigation and report.
The public's appetite for Echelon will be wetted when they pick up People magazine and turn to the section where celebrity exploits and indiscretions are transcripted and given a government stamp of authenticity, "NSA transcripts licensed for commercial release". Echelon is a goldmine, and more than a few people are tasked with exploring it's commercial viability. Clinton-Lewinski phone sex, Israeli intelligence using their NY publicist links to blackmail US politicians/Clinton. White House national security staff bursting Israel's hold on the President through a supremely well engineered public release of Clinton's indiscretions via the Paula Jones case. Middle East peace brokered by statesmen promising to keep mum on each other's transgressions. And, to add a touch of reality, impeachment hearings to punish the President for lying about spitting gum on the sidewalk... Books, movies and future governments are waiting for deals to be signed. $$$ Echelon's a goldmine gentlemen, and Diana and Wassenaar are the first hints of its commercial release. Voyeuristic history will be Echelon's legacy, the NSA will soon become the largest contributor to the National Archive and the booming entertainment economy.
participants (2)
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Frederick Burroughs -
John Young