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(fwd) Re: The police came knocking
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From: [email protected] (Basil Chupin)
Newsgroups: tip.general,aus.org.efa,aus.legal
Subject: Re: The police came knocking
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
X-Mailer: Osiris v4.1 Registered To Basil Chupin
References: <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 96 17:06:59 +1000
Organization: Back To The Future CBIS, Canberra, Australia
Lines: 223
Xref: news.aus.world.net aus.org.efa:1808 aus.legal:2660
In article <[email protected]>
Phil Herring <[email protected]> writes:
> In article <[email protected]> Owen Cook,
> [email protected] writes:
>1. All traffic into and out of Australia passes thru this
>building at St Leonards
>2. Xty millions of dollars were spent by Telecom and ASIO to
>install, secretly, computers in the site.
>3. The purpose of the facility was to monitor all traffic thru
>keyword searches, originator and destination addressees.
>
> Erm, no. It's just a version of the "NSA line eater" myth. Aside
> from
> the fact that there are international links all over the place,
> including satellite uplinks and leased phone lines, the plain
> truth of
> the matter is that the government just doesn't care about the
> Internet
> all that much. Politically it's of little consequence, and law
> enforcement and "intelligence" services have small budgets that
> just
> don't stretch to this kind of conspiracy.
>
> On the other hand, the insecurity of email is legendary.
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Date : 10 Mar 94 13:11:46
From : Relay
To : All
Subject : Government Eavesdropping In New Zealand
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* Message originally :
From: Relay
To : All
Date: 10 Mar 94 11:42:35
Area: alt.dcom.telcom
* Forwarded by Tech Support using Sphinx! 2.0
The following article was posted to the Student Journalists
mailing list ([email protected]) by Malcolm Hutchinson
([email protected]).
This is an article that appears as the centre feature in
our first issue for the year. as the token NZ representative
on this list, i thought i would post it to show that the US is
not the only country experiencing problems keeping their
govt in line when it comes to digital privacy & secure comms.
NZ is known around the world for it's anti-nuke stand in the mid-
eighties, yet we allow this sort of thing to continue. the waihopai
spy base feeds information *directly* to the NSA.
it is because of the existance of installations like this that i
encourage
all my digital friends to take control of their own information
and start using strong cryptographic software. PGP is available
from any number of anon FTP sites around the world. get it, use it.
i apologise if posting an article like this is considered wasting
bandwith on this list
y'all stay safe
mal
title: The Biggest Sour Grape in Marlborough
At a predetermined signal the two groups of protesters split apart. The group
I was in went round the fence to the main gates and started pushing them back
and forward making a hell of a racket. The gate was secured in three places.
We broke the top padlock and the steel rod holding the gate in the ground. We
heard a shout from the other group. They were through the fence. Nine people
arrested and many more if we didn't stop our vigorous attack on the main
gates.
This was it, we were there to do something radical, to make our protest well
and truly heard. No-one had breached the huge inner fence of the Waihopai
Spybase for years. It was my first protest at Waihopai but not the last. The
Waihopai protest just South of Blenheim is an annual event organised by the
Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC). Ever since the first survey pegs were planted in
the ground in 1987, New Zealand women (originally) and men have protested
against the existence of the secretive Waihopai Spybase. Yet despite its
colourful history the vast majority of people still don't know it exists.
Held from January 27-29 this year's protest was larger than usual. About 80
people (including an unspecified number of university students) from Dunedin
to Auckland converged on a makeshift campsite nestled beside the Wairau River
to plan what action they would take against the Spybase and all it stands for.
The word "spybase" conjures images of undercover cops, secrecy, high security,
mystery and murder. While this is a bit dramatic there are similarities. The
Waihopai base is run by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB),
a discrete organisation which only reports to the prime minister. Hidden in a
barren valley deep in the Marlborough outback, the Waihopai base is not
something the GCSB wants New Zealanders to know about. Workers at the base
aren't allowed to talk about what they do and even their spouses don't know
how much they earn. The base has a secret budget and secret objectives.
Secrecy is the aim and so far 'they' have been successful.
That is until 6.00pm Sunday night of the protest when on TV3 thousands of
viewers saw the Waihopai Spybase for the first time. The next day articles
were published in Sunday papers, with further articles in major daily papers
on the Monday. Supportive comments by Nelson MP John Blincoe added to the
debate on a topic usually considered closed. For the first time many New
Zealanders became aware that a government agency was spying on our neighbours
in the South Pacific and giving that information straight to the United
States.
What is a Spybase?
A more official name for the Spybase is Satellite Communications Station. This
sounds very innocent but there's no escaping the fact the base invades the
privacy of thousands of people, businesses governments and other organisations
throughout the South Pacific without their consent. The information gleamed is
not meant for the GCSB or the US, that's why it's called spying.
The base consists of an 18 metre receiving dish covered by a huge white dome,
an operations building and workshop, all protected by a 14ft security fence
backed by another electric fence, security cameras and floodlights. The base
monitors communications transmitted via satellite: private and commercial
telephone, fax, e-mail, telex and telegrams. These messages are scanned for
key words by computer. The information collected is then relayed to the GCSB
headquarters in the Freyberg building in Wellington. Useful information is
then sent to the United States National Security Agency or the larger Spybase
in Geraldton, Australia.
Why protest?
"The Waihopai Spybase uses your money to invade your privacy for other
countries' benefit?" This statement taken from an Anti-Bases Campaign pamphlet
about the base sums up the general reason why people are motivated enough to
protest, and to be arrested.
In the past, politicians like David Lange claimed the Waihopai base will give
New Zealand more independence in intelligence matters and that the information
would be under New Zealand control. However a document obtained from the US
Navy by peace researchers last year has confirmed long held suspicions that
the GCSB passes the intelligence collected at Waihopai to the powerful US
National Security Agency. This evidence completely contradicts the claims made
by New Zealand politicians. What's more, according to British investigative
journalist, Duncan Campbell, the Waihopai Spybase is part of a world wide
network of spybases monitoring satellite communications for the benefit of the
NSA.
What really sticks in the throats of those who know about the Waihopai Spybase
is that despite the fact that the information is given to the US, New Zealand
pays for it. Based on the costs of similar bases in other countries, the
Anti-Bases Campaign estimates that the base cost $20 million to set up and up
to $100 million so far. Protesters ask why should we be paying for this
'service' especially when we weren't even told about it.
The Waihopai Spybase was established without the consent of the New Zealand
people and operates without the permission of the Pacific countries who's
sovereignty it intrudes on. The Spybase is part of a reliance on military
power and cold war politics which reinforces the nuclear powers domination of
the globe. Instead of building relationships with our neighbours based on
trust, cooperation and peace we are furthering the interests of oppressive
military alliances by the world super powers.
Under international law it is in fact illegal to intercept international
communications. The activities of the Waihopai Spybase contravene the
International Tele-Communications Convention to which NZ has agreed. It is
also illegal under NZ law to act on such information.
The question we must ask ourselves is "Do we want New Zealand to participate
in this misuse of technology?" "Do we want to be consulted before we enter
into secret military alliances with the super powers? Would we rather the
money spent on spying was spent on education or health? Protesters at Waihopai
demand a Parliamentary inquiry into the activities of the GCSB, and that the
activities of this organisation be subject to review by the judicial system.
We also demand the closure of the Waihopai Spybase and the redirection of the
money spent on its operations to be put toward a peaceful future. Until this
happens we will continue to protest at Waihopai. I didn't try to be unbiased
in this article. For a start I was actively protesting the base myself. It is
also difficult to get another side to the story when politicians won't talk
about it. The head of the GCSB even refused to answer MP's questions in
Parliament about the Spybase. But secrets never last forever and thanks to the
New Zealand peace movement at least some of the truth is becoming public.
The more people who demand knowledge of the Spybase and accountability for its
operations, the more likely politicians will take notice. Already Nelson MP
John Blincoe (Labour) has come out in support of the Waihopai protest. In the
Christchurch Press Blincoe said international circumstances had changed and it
was time for the "cloud of secrecy" over the base to be lifted.
"The public is entitled to know what is being done from its own soil," said
Blincoe. "At the very least there should be Parliamentary scrutiny of Waihopai
and the other listening station, Tangimoana, near Palmerston North." Yes there
are other spybases, of different sorts, but did you know about them? I find it
unnerving to think people could be listening to my phone conversations, that
foreign spy networks are operating through New Zealand and I am helping
finance something I don't believe in. But then we don't have to like it and
nor do we have to accept it. It is our right to question and protest.
To find out more information about Waihopai and other bases in New Zealand
write to the Anti-Bases Campaign, PO Box 9314, Wellington. [NEW ZEALAND]
Paul Smith wc 1345
*********************************************************
Malcolm Hutchinson internet: [email protected]
Editor: NEXUS 1994 The Waikato Students' Union
Te Wharae Wananga O Waikato
Hamilton, New Zealand
PGP Public Key available on request
*********************************************************
--
Nigel Allen [email protected]
----------------------------------------------------------
Basil Chupin Internet: [email protected]
Fidonet: 3.620.269.0 +61-6-285-2353
XLTNet: 370.100.1.0 +61-6-285-2353
----------------------------------------------------------
--
"I mean, after all; you have to consider we're only made out of dust. That's
admittedly not much to go on and we shouldn't forget that. But even
considering, I mean it's sort of a bad beginning, we're not doing too bad. So
I personally have faith that even in this lousy situation we're faced with we
can make it. You get me?" - Leo Burlero/PKD
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