Privacy issues: ECHELON and the UKUSA agreement enable leading world governments to intercept the world's communications. A report discussing how and why they get away with it.

1. Introduction Since 1948 Australia has been part of a secret agreement called UKUSA. Under this agreement Australia has collaborated with America, England, New Zealand and Canada to spy on the communications of the rest of the world, sharing the resources and the results amongst themselves. The espionage network which the UKUSA countries use is called ECHELON; it provides almost total coverage on all forms of communication. Although it has been in place since the 1970's, ECHELON …

…Whatever their justification, whether it is law enforcement or the economic or political well-being of the country, it should not give them the right to listen to our phone calls, monitor our internet usage and read our faxes and emails. 7. Glossary Comint - communications intelligence Sigint - signals intelligence NSA - National Security Agency DSD - Defense Signals Directorate CSE - Communications Security Establishment GCHQ - Government Communications Headquarters GCSB - Government Communications Security Bureau