European Parliament considers what to do about Echelon

Echelon is said to be a covert surveillance program used to monitor foreign communications. Run by the US government in co-operation with the UK, Australia and New Zealand, it allegedly sifts through electronic data by using keyword searches, and, according to reports, has been used by US companies to monitor European business communications in order to gain a competitive advantage. Its existence has never previously been confirmed or denied by any government.

The report presented to the Parliament confirmed a previous statement that Echelon does exist. It calls on the US government to negotiate an agreement with the EU to respect the privacy rights of individual citizens. It also urges European Union citizens to protect their on-line privacy by using encryption software.

Mr Likkanen told the parliament that if the Echelon surveillance system is being abused for the purpose of gathering competitive intelligence . He said: "In so far as Community law is concerned, such activity could fall within the scope of the data protection directives. This is the case if data gathered by Echelon type systems is collected or subsequently passed on to commercial undertakings for purposes unrelated to the prevention of criminal offences and unrelated to State security matters."

He added that in June this year, the Commission adopted a Communication on Network and Information Security which looked to tackle the problem of a lack of awareness among European firms and citizens over potential network security risks. The Communication identifies certain areas in which action needs to be taken to develop a European wide approach to network security.

These areas include raising public awareness of security risks, promoting a set of best practices, and creating a European warning and information system to support the Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). The Communication also recommends that the EU should examine how to best organise co-ordinated measures to respond to security threats, whilst setting up an inventory of all national laws taken to combat the problem.