- LAW enforcement agencies have laid the
foundations for a massive eavesdropping system capable of intercepting
all mobile phone calls, Internet communications, and fax and pager messages
in Europe. The plan, known as Enfopol 98, has been drawn up in secret by
police and justice officials as part of a Europe-wide strategy to create
a seamless web of telecommunications surveillance across national boundaries.
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- The strategy, which has received widespread
support in the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, will oblige all ISPs
and telephone exchanges to provide agencies with "real time, full
time" access to all communications, regardless of the country of origin.
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- Current eavesdropping techniques require
specific authority to be granted within each individual country so that
agencies can monitor pre-designated communications within each jurisdiction.
Under the proposed system, Europe will create a "one-stop shop"
for snooping on communications. Satellite systems such as Iridium will
be forced to create "wiretap-friendly" technology, while ISPs
must submit to requirements for interception of content.
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- The plan was revealed by the German Internetmagazine
Telepolis, which recently published details of the strategy. The EU has
refused to acknowledge the status of the proposal, but it is now known
that Enfopol has passed through the Justice and Home Affairs Council to
the stage of draft resolution. So far, national parliaments have scarcely
been involved.
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- To the dismay of advocates of strong
encryption, Enfopol will function on the principle that all code must be
capable of being broken. The Enfopol system will be aided by a "subject
tagging" system capable of tracking targets wherever they travel.
Known as the "International User Requirements for Interception"
(IUR), the tagging system will create a data processing and transmission
network that involves not only the names, addresses and phone numbers of
targets and associates, but email addresses, credit card details, PINs
and passwords.
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- The move to establish Enfopol follows
a five-year lobbying exercise by American agencies such as the FBI. When
completed, the system will provide a global interception regime.
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- But the proposal has infuriated civil
liberties and Internet rights organisations. Ian Brown, technology policy
director of Privacy International calls, it a "sniper's bullet to
the heart of privacy".
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