newscientist: Prying eyes
New Scientist on the EU Echelon draft report:
Past evidence of Echelon is limited to media investigations and individual studies commissioned by the European Parliament. Its existence has never been officially acknowledged.Although it is not finalised, the document indicates that the report committee is moving towards heavy criticism of the surveillance system.
The document recommends that all European citizens should encrypt their email and steer clear of closed software. It recommends using open source software that can be checked for hidden backdoors – the source code behind most commercial software is kept a closely guarded secret.
The final report could therefore increase pressure on governments to encourage the use of encryption in Europe. The UK’s Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act currently gives law enforcers permission to seize the keys used to lock encrypted messages under special circumstances.