Expectation of privacy in public?

[georgemw at speakeasy.net]

On 24 Sep 2001, at 17:49, Robert wrote:


> > Cal. Penal Code ' 631, 632 (Deering 1999): It is a crime
> >   in California to intercept or eavesdrop upon any
> >   confidential communication, including a telephone call or
> >   wire communication, without the consent of all parties.
> >
> 
> It is not a crime for an agency of another country to eavesdrop on you as
> long as they are physically located outside the U.S. Similarly, it is not
> illegal for a US agency to intercept messages in another country, as long as
> they do it from outside the that country.
> 

You're on crack.  The anti-eavsdropping laws don't have 
exemptions for agents of foreign governments, the suggestion is 
absurd.

> This is how (if it really does exist) the Echelon network works. Agencies in
> Canada, England, Australia etc. intercept messages in the U.S. and then pass
> on the intelligence to their U.S. counterparts. This information sharing
> by-passes legal jurisdictional limits.

Except that it doesn't.  It's not a violation of US law for US agents 
to spy on people in Australia, but it's almost certainly a violation
of Australian law.  Similarly, it's probably not a violation of 
Australian law for Australian agents to eavsdrop on people in 
California, but it's clearly a violation of California law.

George

> 
> Robert Andrews
> Is your personal data exposed?
> http://www.PrivacyExposed.com
> 
>