A group of Internet activists hopes to bring attention to the controversial U.S.-led communications spy network Echelon with a "Jam Echelon Day." But privacy experts say the protest as planned will have a minimal effect on the sophisticated surveillance system. Organizers . . .
A group of Internet activists hopes to bring attention to the controversial U.S.-led communications spy network Echelon with a "Jam Echelon Day." But privacy experts say the protest as planned will have a minimal effect on the sophisticated surveillance system. Organizers of the cyberevent, set for Oct. 21, are encouraging the Internet community to send out as many e-mail messages as possible containing certain "trigger words" they believe the Echelon system is programmed to watch for. The theory is that if the bulk of monitored e-mails becomes too great, Echelon will be overworked with intercepting spurious input, and so its effectiveness will drop.

Though, the organizers concede, they are unlikely to jam the whole system, they believe it's still worth pressing ahead.

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