Back in 2000, it was revealed that Britain, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand had established a joint intelligence gathering system called Echelon which searched for keywords in faxes, telexes and emails. There were strong suspicions in Europe that Echelon was being used to help American companies compete against those based in Europe.
It is not known what relationship there may be between PRISM and Echelon, but it is plausible to assume that PRISM is an extension of Echelon. If so, it increases the likelihood that PRISM has an economic component and is not limited to antiterrorism efforts.
Read Full Article »