A Year Ago: Europe weighs Echelon threat

Matthew Rothenberg ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 23 Mar 2001 07:01 GMT

European Green Party members request inquiry into surveillance danger

The European Parliament is evaluating the possible dangers of Echelon, a rumoured US-sponsored global surveillance network, according to a report from ZDNet France.

Seven French deputies are reportedly on a fact-finding mission about Echelon, which the United States is reportedly mounting in cooperation with Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

According to a spokesman for Alima Boumediene-Thiery, French deputy for the Green Party, Greens in Parliament have already collected enough signatures from deputies to convene a parliamentary panel of inquiry.

They hope the inquiry will shed light on the UK's role in Echelon and determine why information on the network was slow to reach the European Community.

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