What's a little spying between friends?

1999-09-08 22:52

From: Zombie Cow http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/body/0,1634,89923-142316-981920-=0,00.html What's a little spying between friends?=20 By PETER FORD (September 6, 1999 12:39 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - You are not supposed to spy on your friends. As details emerge of U.S. intelligence agencies eavesdropping on the e-mail, faxes, and phone calls of European businesses, politicians in Europe are calling for better ways to safeguard industrial secrets. The most contentious source of trenchcoat contretemps among trans-Atlantic allies: Internet encryption. The United States is trying to persuade the European Union to allow only Internet codes for which law enforcement and national security agencies would have a "key." That would help to combat terrorists and drug smugglers. But it would also give U.S. officials potential access to the commercial secrets of foreign companies. "Unless we have guarantees of safeguards, controls over who listens to whom and what for, Europe is not going to leave the key under the doormat so that the Americans can walk in and steal the family silver," says Glyn Ford, a member of the European parliament. But with no communist threat to occupy them, Western intelligence agencies in the 1990s appear to be devoting more of their time and resources to industrial espionage against each other. And, says Michael Hershman, chairman of DSFX, the world's largest private investigative agency, "Industrial espionage is going up steadily" because of "globalization and increased competition." Before the end of the year, the European Parliament is due to discuss a series of reports detailing the manner in which the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts international electronic communications. [snip...] ISN is sponsored by Security-Focus.COM

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