Spies are US

摘要

As you read this, a US intelligence agency is probably analysing your last phone call, fax, telex or e-mail. It may sound paranoid, but any doubts about the existence of a shadowy project called Echelon, designed for this very purpose, are rapidly disappearing. And as the extent of its espionage emerges, Western governments are demanding to know the reasons for its activity and to whom it is ultimately accountable. If recently proposed legislation is passed, American spy chiefs and the Attorney General will have to explain themselves and the global electronic surveillance programme to Congress. But the secretive National Security Agency that founded Echelon isn't making the quest any easier. So far, the NSA has refused to say what it does, much less explain the ethical rules it is governed by or what it does with the information it gathers.