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Résumé: Les vraies raisons
des amitiés douteuses de certains politiques américains
envers des sectes criminelles comme la scientologie
Publié sur le journal internet : http://civilliberty.about.com/
URL de la page : http://civilliberty.about.com/library/blnews.htm
Par Jack Gee
A Paris
La France a lancé hier une enquête criminelle contre l'Angleterre
et les US, déclarant que ces pays se sont servis de leur réseau
d'espionnage éléctronique mondial pour violer certains
de ses secrets industriels.
Les Américains auraient utilisé des centres d'écoute
en Angleterre et dans d'autres pays pour voler des contrats de grande
importance à la France.
"Le Procureur parisien, Jean-Pierre Dintilhac, qui instruit l'affaire,
a déclaré qu'il était inhabituel de la part d'un
pays de porter plainte contre un allié. Mais c'est la sécurité
nationale de la France qui est en jeu."
"Nous avons commencé à chercher les preuves que les
Américains avec la complicité de l'Angleterre ont sapé
l'industrie et l'économie nationale française."
Dans une autre affaire, le Parlement Européen à Strasbourg
votera aujourd'hui l'ouverture de sa propre instruction concernant l'espionnage
par les Américains. L'administration Clinton s'est vantée
que l'industrie américaine avait été très
largement aidée par ce qu'elle appelle la "défense
agressive", estimant ainsi qu'elle avait gagné plus de 35
milliards de Livres sterling (360 milliards de F).
Cette "pratique" a pris la forme de l'usage de la technologie
des satellites pour intercepter les appels téléphoniques,
les e-mails et fax de concurrents outre-mer afin de mettre la main sur
les dernières informations du domaine des affaires. L'information
est ensuite transmise aux hommes d'affaires américains, ce qui
les avantage dans les discussions.
Entre autres contrats que la France déclare avoir perdu en raison
de l'espionnage conduit par l'état US lors de négociations,
il y avait une affaire de 1 million de £ pour le radar de l'avion
de combat européen. L'agrément est allé à
la firme américaine Raytheon, au moment où le groupe français
Thompson était sur le point de signer le contrat.
La France a également perdu 3 millions de £ dans un contrat
d'aviation avec l'Arabie Saoudite qui a été remporté
par McDonnell Douglas. Le Consortium Européen d'Airbus déclare
qu'il a perdu les commandes parce que les Américains avaient
été tenus au courant de négotiations secrètes
avec des clients potentiels.
Mr Dintilhac a demandé aux services secrets de son propre pays,
la Direction de la Sécurité Intérieure du Territoire,
de vérifier le rôle néfaste que la CIA et la NSA
américaines ont tenu dans ce réseau d'espionnage dont
le nom de code est Echelon.
Le réseau a été établi dans les années
60 afin de protéger la sécurité nationale, mais
depuis la fin de la guerre froide il a servi à pirater l'information.
Ironiquement, alors que le réseau Echelon est en partie piloté
par le réseau anglais, des sociétés anglaises ont
également été victimes de l'espionnage industriel
et ont vu des contrats filer chez des concurrents américains.
Pour intercepter et filtrer les communications téléphoniques,
fax et e-mails, les américains se servent d'un centre de traitement
des données par satellite situé à Menwith Hill
dans le nord du Yorkshire, ancienne base de la RAF. Sous le nom de F83,
le centre des "grandes oreilles" possède 1400 ingénieurs,
experts en informatique et linguistes.
Mr Dintilhac a déclaré que l'information obtenue par les
satellites espions est transmise à la CIA et la NSA, qui ont
un staff de 40000 personnes et un budget annuel de l'ordre de 2,5 milliards
de Livres (26 milliards de F).
James Woosley, ancien patron de la CIA a admis récemment: "Les
US ont accumulé en secret des informations au détriment
de firmes européennes."
On s'attend à ce que les membres du Parlement Anglais s'opposent
à une demande d'examen de la part des Verts sur cette opération
Echelon. Si une majorité vote pour l'ouverture d'une enquête,
36 membres du Parlement seront nommés membres d'un commité
spécial d'enquête. Parmi les questions que les Verts désirent
aborder, on trouve celle-ci: "L'Industrie Européenne court-elle
un risque en raison de cette interception globale de l'information?"
URL de la page : http://civilliberty.about.com/library/blnews.htm
UK spies 'stealing' French firms' deals
FROM JACK GEE
IN PARIS
FRANCE yesterday opened a criminal investigation against Britain and
the US, claiming they have used a worldwide electronic spy network to
steal its industrial secrets.
The Americans allegedly have been using eavesdropping centres in Britain
and other countries to snatch major business contracts from France.
"It is unusual for one country to try to put an ally in the dock
like this," said Paris public prosecutor Jean-Pierre Dintilhac,
who is leading the inquiry. "But France's security is at stake.
"We have started our probe following allegations that the Americans,
abetted by the British, are
undermining French industry and the national economy."
In another development, the European Parliament in Strasbourg will vote
today on setting up its own inquiry into high-tech snooping by the Americans.
The Clinton administration has boasted that US industry is being boosted
by what it calls "aggressive advocacy", estimating that it
has gained to the tune of up to £35billion.
That "advocacy" takes the form of using satellite technology
to intercept telephone calls, e-mails and faxes from competitors overseas
in order to get the latest business information. Information is passed
on to US bidders, giving them the advantage in deals.
Among contracts France claims to have lost to the US after state-sponsored
snoopers divulged business negotiations was a £1million radar
deal for a European fighter plane. The order went to US firm Raytheon
just as France's Thomson group were about to sign on the dotted line.
France also lost a £3million aircraft contract in Saudi Arabia
to McDonnell Douglas. The European Airbus consortium claims it lost
orders because the Americans had been let in on secret negotiations
with potential customers.
Mr Dintilhac has called in his country's own secret service, the Directorate
for National Surveillance, to look into the damaging role of America's
CIA and National Security Agency in the spy network, codenamed Echelon.
The network was set up in the Sixties to protect national security but
since the end of the Cold War it has been used for information piracy.
Ironically, while the Echelon network is part-operated by Britain's
GCHQ, British firms have also fallen victim to the corporate eavesdropping,
seeing contracts go to their US business rivals. To intercept and filter
telephone, fax and e-mail messages, the Americans are using a satellite
data processing centre at Menwith Hill in North Yorkshire, a former
RAF base. Going under the codename F83, this "big ears" centre
has 1,400 engineers, computer experts and linguists.
Mr Dintilhac said the information obtained by the satellite spies is
relayed through the CIA to the NSA, which has a staff of 40,000 and
an annual budget of £2.5billion.
James Woolsey, former head of the CIA, admitted recently: "The
US has secretly compiled intelligence information to the disadvantage
of European firms."
British MEPs are expected to oppose a move today by the Greens in the
European Parliament to examine the Echelon operation.If a majority votes
for an inquiry, 36 MEPs will become members of a special investigating
committee. Among the questions which the Greens want to put to an inquiry:
"Is European industry at risk from global interception of information?"
Autre façon pour le FBI d'espionner les gens. (http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40541,00.html)
C'est intéressant aussi pour le rappel des lois qui gouvernent
ce type de choses chez eux.
*****
FBI Hacks Alleged Mobster
by Declan McCullagh
2:00 a.m. Dec. 6, 2000 PST
WASHINGTON -- Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of Philadelphia's former mob
boss, was almost paranoid enough.
Scarfo, who has been charged with masterminding a mob-linked loan sharking
operation in New Jersey, reportedly used the popular PGP encryption
software to shield his computer's secrets from prying eyes.
But when the feds learned of Scarfo's security measures, they decided
to do something that would bypass even the best encryption software:
FBI agents sneaked into Scarfo's office in Belleville, New Jersey, on
May 10, 1999, and installed a keyboard-sniffing device to record his
password when he typed it in.
A seven-page court order authorized the FBI and cooperating local police
to break into Scarfo's first-floor "Merchant Services of Essex
County" office as many times as necessary to deploy, maintain,
and then remove "recovery methods which will capture the necessary
key-related information and encrypted files."
The case, which is awaiting trial, appears to be the first in which
the U.S. government used such aggressive surveillance techniques during
an investigation, and some legal observers say the FBI's breaking-and-entering
procedures go too far.
"I don't think it's constitutional," says David Sobel, general
counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington,
D.C. "This case has the potential to establish some very important
precedents on this issue."
Scarfo's prosecution comes at a time when the FBI's Carnivore surveillance
system is under increasingly heavy fire from privacy groups, and the
use of data-scrambling encryption products appears to be growing. Last
week, for instance, news leaked out about Yahoo's encrypted Web-based
e-mail service it introduced through a deal with Zixit, a Dallas firm.
Scarfo has been charged with supervising "an illegal gambling business"
in violation of state and federal law and using extortionate loan shark
tactics, according to a three-count indictment filed in federal court
in June 2000. He has pleaded not guilty.
"There's nothing that we can talk about or are at liberty to talk
about in the case," says Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the
U.S. Attorney's office for the District of New Jersey. Drewniak would
not comment on the use of encryption, saying "we do not discuss
evidence."
The elder Scarfo, who once ran the Philadelphia mob that also dominated
the Atlantic City gambling racket, was imprisoned in 1991 on racketeering
charges.
The spring 1999 investigation of the younger Scarfo, who is 35 years
old, may be what prompted the Clinton administration to recommend changing
federal law to allow police to conduct electronic "black bag"
jobs.
The idea first publicly surfaced in mid-1999, when the Justice Department
proposed legislation that would let police obtain surreptitious warrants
and "postpone" notifying the person whose property they entered
for 30 days.
After vocal objections from civil liberties groups, the administration
backed away from the controversial bill. In the final draft of the Cyberspace
Electronic Security Act submitted to Congress, the secret-search portions
had disappeared.
In January 2000, the Clinton administration seemed to change its mind.
"When criminals like drug dealers and terrorists use encryption
to conceal their communications, law enforcement must be able to respond
in a manner that will not thwart an investigation or tip off a suspect,"
Attorney General Janet Reno and Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre
wrote in a seven-page letter to Congress.
That letter, however, suggested the feds didn't need a new law -- and
would instead rely on "general authorities" when asking judges
to authorize black bag jobs. A related "secret search" proposal
resurfaced in May 2000 in a Senate bankruptcy bill.
In the Scarfo case, the FBI in May 1999 asked for "authority to
search for and seize encryption-key-related pass phrases" from
his computer as well as "install and leave behind software, firmware,
and/or hardware equipment which will monitor the inputted data entered
on Nicodemo S. Scarfo's computer by recording the key related information
as they (sic) are entered."
Although the government has refused to release details, this appears
to indicate the FBI was using either a hardware device -- inserted into
the keyboard or attached to the keyboard cable -- or a software program
that would quietly run in the background and record keystrokes. With
the PGP private key and Scarfo's secret password, the government could
then view whatever documents or files he had encrypted and stored on
his computer.
Ruling that "normal investigative procedures to decrypt the codes
and keys necessary to decipher the 'factors' encrypted computer file
have been tried and have failed," U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Donald
Haneke granted the FBI's request.
EPIC's Sobel suggested that Haneke did not, under federal law, have
the authority to grant such an order. "The interesting issue is
that they in those (court) documents specifically disclaim any reliance
on the wiretap statute," Sobel says. "If they're on record
saying this isn't communications -- and it isn't -- then that extraordinary
authority they have under the wiretap laws does not apply."
"If we're now talking about expanding (black bag jobs) to every
case in which the government has an interest where the subject is using
a computer and encryption, the number of break-ins is going to skyrocket,"
Sobel said. "Break-ins are going to become commonplace."
Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA, said he believed the government
could successfully argue the break-in was constitutional. "There's
nothing in the Constitution that prohibits this kind of anticipatory
search," says Volokh. "In many respects it's no different
from a wiretap."
A lawyer for Scarfo told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he would file
a motion challenging the legality of the FBI's black bag job.
"Anything he typed on that keyboard -- a letter to his lawyer,
personal or medical records, legitimate business records -- they got
it all," attorney Donald Manno told the paper. Manno could not
be reached for comment on Tuesday.
Scarfo, who is out on bail, was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday
for a hearing before U.S. District Judge Nicholas Politan. The purpose
of the hearing was to appoint a new attorney -- Manno has represented
a client who may testify for the government against Scarfo.
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