Betanews bericht dat de Franse regering een rechtszaak overweegt tegen de Britse en Amerikaanse overheid, die met hun Echelon spionage netwerk inbreuk zouden maken op de privacy van Franse bedrijven en overheidsinstanties:
The news follows on from reports earlier in the week in Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, that Jean-Pierre Millet, a lawyer, is preparing a civil lawsuit against the UK and US on behalf of French civil liberty organizations.[...] Today's Times report quotes Millet as saying that the fact that there has been an attempt to intercept a communication is against the law in France, no matter how the information is used.
"You can bet that every time a French government minister makes a call, it is recorded," he told the paper.
[...] Echelon's existence has been discussed in security circles for almost a decade, but its existence was only brought to public attention in early 1997 by Covert Action Quarterly (CAQ), a quarterly intelligence newsletter, which revealed details of the global telecommunications surveillance system.
[...] CAQ said that Echelon monitors virtually all phone calls in the US and Europe, including the UK, effectively making a mockery of the UK's Interception of Communications Act.
The newsletter added that Echelon is used to keyword search e-mail, fax, telex and all types of voice communications, including analog and digital cellular phone calls.