Echelon, a retrospective, a worry and an update - Texas Memory Systems

[neomonkey]

Rumblings of Echelon (or this) seems to be resurfacing. Our favorite Big Brother tool is back in the realm of discussion, as it should be. From allegations that is has been used as a tool for corporate spying to troublesome allegations of http://washingtonpost.com/wp%2Dsrv/national/daily/dec98/diana12.htm">domestic spying, the massive global spy network has been a heated source of mystery and paranoia.

Now a new article referenced at Slashdot talks about how much of the hardware is supplied by a Houston-based (surprise!) company.

Privacy issues aside, my fears, my suspicions, regard BBV. Echelon is obviously an incredibly sophisticated and intrusive data mining network.

Just how sensitive is it to the BBV systems across the U.S.? Food for thought...