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Date: 1999-03-11
IDG.net ueber ENFOPOL-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- erschienen. Morgen publiziert Christiane Schulzki-Hadduti auf einer URL, die wir erst nennen werden, wenn es soweit ist, eine voluminöse Enfopol-Timeline aller einschlägigen Events von 1991-1998, derer wir bis dato hab/haft werden konnten. post/scrypt an die p.t. Fern/meldespezialist/inn/en auf der Liste: Wie paranoid soll man den Umstand finden, wenn ISDN-Apparate bei - sagen wir - Anrufen vom ISDN-Festnetz in Koblenz auf deutsche Mobilfones neuerdings neben Fehlverbindungen völlig bescheuerte, fünfstellige Rufnummern/anzeigen zur Folge haben? -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- Mary Lisbeth D'Amico IDG News Service, Munich Bureau MUNICH (03/10/99) - Privacy advocates in Germany have erected a Web site called Freedomforlinks to protest what they perceive as plans by the European Union (EU) to allow "legally empowered authorities" to put in place European-wide surveillance systems. The protest comes in response to reported plans by the European Commission's Council of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) to put into place mechanisms for law-enforcement agencies to access all kinds of transmitted messages, including data traffic over the Internet. The JHA is the organization within the European Council responsible for coordinating police, customs and justice activities of the EU's 15 member states. The planned surveillance system, called Enfopol, was reported on by Telepolis, a German online technology magazine that late last year began publishing excerpts over the Internet from what it said were top-secret internal EU memos. Contacted about the reports, Telepolis editor Erich Moechel said that Telepolis reporters have received numerous copies of these memos from more than one source, which he called "100-percent reliable." "People still don't understand the technical aspects (of surveillance)," said Moechel, who has authored some of the articles on Enfopol. "They still think cellular phones are anonymous and they can't imagine what people would even do with their data." Now, German privacy advocates have launched the "Stop Enfopol" campaign, publicized on the Freedomforlinks Web site (http://www.freedomforlinks.de), to raise public awareness of what they see as a real potential threat to citizens' privacy. The Web site's sponsors, who call themselves online advocates, have asked concerned citizens to send e-mails to the European Union's Ombudsman (citizen's representative), Jacob Södermann, demanding that the issue be clarified. But Södermann has responded with a form letter stating that he is not responsible for the matter, according to information posted on the Freedomforlinks Web site. He has directed the thousands who sent him e-mails to contact the European Parliament in Luxembourg, according to the Web site authors. Enfopol surveillance plans target any form of telecommunications, be it data, encrypted or not; mobile telephony; or communications over the new Iridium system and other satellite mobile phone services that may follow, according to a document compiled by Moechel based on numerous Telepolis reports. "If these plans can be implemented, Enfopol will be able to monitor almost every communications mode, leaving no gaps," the report said. If Enfopol becomes legal reality, police forces will get any surveillance power they wish, the article said. As soon as the surveillance gateways to Internet providers, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), Iridium (the communications network) and other networks are established, "legally empowered authorities" other than police forces are expected to log on, the article said. "The danger here is that the European Union is mixing police issues with secret service issues," Moechel told IDG News. According to the language of the Enfopol documents, the interception of messages would be allowed for any "legally empowered authority," which he said could mean secret service employees as well as police. Citing the internal memos published by Telepolis, Moechel suggests that Enfopol is even targeting the central terrestrial masterstation of the Iridium network in Italy as a main spot from which to monitor telecommunications traffic. Diplomatic sources confirmed that efforts to define "interception" efforts were underway, but said that statements that a European surveillance system was being established were "overdoing it." The origin for the proposal, the sources said, was a 1995 resolution, signed by all European Union members, which detailed the technical requirements that had to be fulfilled to enable interception of telecommunications messages in cases where member states work together. This is the genesis of the Enfopol drafts, the sources confirmed. This document was a memorandum of understanding with the file number Enfopol 112 10037/95, according to Telepolis. Although it was signed by all EU members, Telepolis said, it was never officially published. A copy was published, however, by the British anti-surveillance group Statewatch in February 1997. With the technological progress that occurred over the ensuing years, the diplomatic sources said, there has been an effort to update this agreement. Talks have gone on among what the sources call "police experts" and technical experts as to which technical requirements would have to be fulfilled to enable data interception. Some kind of final draft could be expected around May, the sources said. When a draft in this area is finalized, the diplomatic sources said, ministers of the JHA would have to decide whether it would be implemented. And, even if adopted, it would be up to individual judges on a national level to decide whether to apply the recommendations, the sources said. Officials with the Justice and Home Affairs Council could not be reached for comment. The topic will reportedly be brought up at the next JHA ministers meeting, scheduled for March 12 in Brussels, according to Telepolis. But the diplomatic sources contradict that. "That meeting will discuss interception in the framework of criminal investigations, whereas Enfopol has to do with interception for intelligence or security reasons," the sources said. Telepolis' Moechel, however, thinks this simply isn't true. "It's going to be the number-one topic among the JHA secretaries when they meet," he said. Telepolis can be reached on the World Wide Web at http://www.heise.de/tp/english/default.html. -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- Diese q/depesche wurde für telepolis produziert. Wir ersuchen bei Übernahme durch Dritte höflich, obige URL zu zitieren -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- - -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- edited by published on: 1999-03-11 comments to office@quintessenz.at subscribe Newsletter - -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- 
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