MSNBC is running a story, which they claim to be an exlusive, about Project Eschelon. That's the NSA project to eavesdrop on private communications to look for national security threats.

I'm sure the story will run many times, throughout the day, so check it out.

Here's the bits of the story I was able to transcribe, for those who don't have cable:

The source was a person named Mike Frost, who claims to be and "ex-spy" for Canada's NSA partner, in project Eschelon (If they named that partner agency, then I missed it, as I was transcribing). There were also interviews with Wayne Matson, a fmr NSA consultant. There were also a few sound bites from Bob Barr, expressing his concern over this (You know it's de riguer to always have a politician saying, "I feel your pain" in a story like this).

The report was that as much as 90% of internet traffic is monitored, for certain trigger words, which would, in turn, lead to further NSA investigation.

They also talked about phone conversations being monitored, but I didn't catch any figures on this.

A brief history was given of Project Eschelon and it's intended function to listen to cold war adversaries.

An anecdote was told by Mike Frost of someone who was investigated by the NSA, because they heard him constantly talking about "bombing". Turns out the guy is an undertaker and what he was talking about was "embalming" someone.

When asked for comment, by MSNBC, the NSA refused to either confirm or deny the MSNBC report.

MSNBC provided a link to the Civil Liberties Union page about Project Eschelon. eschelon.watch.org

I'm gong to continue listening to MSNBC, for another run of this story. If I missed any details, I'll post them here.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), November 18, 1999

Answers

The page cannot be displayed

There is a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed.

Please try the following:

Open the eschelon.watch.org home page, and then look for links to the information you want.

Click the Refresh button, or try again later.

Click Search to look for information on the Internet. You can also see a list of related sites.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus43&counting.down), November 18, 1999.

Oooops...no "s" in Echelon

Try this Link

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), November 18, 1999.

Nope...still not working. I'll have to wait for the story to run again, and double check the URL. In the meantime, try doing a search on "Civil Liberties Union", and follow the links.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), November 18, 1999.

OHHHHH TEEEEEE

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 18, 1999.

Colin, if you read Bokonon's LONG title, you KNEW it was OT...so why does he have to put "OT" in front of it for YOU? This stuff is so assinine!

-- Y. The Venom (Sickof@snobs.here), November 18, 1999.

Colin, Not in the least Ohhh Teee. Have you read all the threads about Project Megiddo? If you connect the dots from Project Echelon to Project Megiddo you may see the relevance.

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), November 18, 1999.

Thanks for the 'heads up' Bok, I know a couple people who may take this issue a bit more seriously now that it's on Teee Veeee. ;-)

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), November 18, 1999.

Here's some stuff from CAQ: http://caq.com/CAQ/CAQ 59GlobalSnoop.html

-- Count Vronsky (vronsky@anna.lit), November 18, 1999.

As usual, the mainstream press only covers something important after their nose is rubbed in it.

For background, check out following article link for expatriates and international investors.

http://www.sovereignsociety.com/a-letter/aletterarticle.cfm?entryid=61

-- A (A@AisA.com), November 18, 1999.

Colllllinnnnnn,

Ifffff sommmmmme peeeeeeopllllllle arrrrrre crrrrriticiiiiiiizing thhhhhhhhe govvvvvvvvvvernnnnnnmennnnt innnnnnnn howwwwwwww thhhhhheyyyyyyy hannnnnnndllllle thhhhhhhissssss mmmmmmmesssssss, thhhhhhhennnnnnn thhhhhhissssss isssssss immmmmporrrrrrrrrtannnnnt innnnnnfo, get it?

Yes, if I had thought of it, I would have labeled it O.T.. However, it's on topic enough that you'll pardon me if I don't get too balled up with guilt about it.

Has anyone caught this report yet? I watched pretty much all day, up till about 4, and MSNBC was running back to back "infotainment" programs (They did a whole hour, on some diet program!), all day. Hopefully they'll run it, tonight.

If it doesn't run again.....make that "quadruple" the paranoia factor...

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), November 18, 1999.

Boks, did they run it again?

-- (RUOK@yesiam.com), November 19, 1999.

Address of Washington Post article on the subject: http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/14/040l-111499- idx.html

(sorry, fist time poster, don't know how to hotlink)

-- (indigoseahorse@hotmail.com), November 19, 1999.

BBC had a few radio snippets about Echelon on the "PM" news program back in October. Don't think they actually got on from the NSA though. Also this http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid_503000/503224.st m from their site.

-- Rob (rob@planet.rob), November 19, 1999.