(January 23, 2001) — Have you ever gotten the feeling that you are under surveillance? Have you ever pondered the fact that you are being watched around the clock? Well, you are not alone. The privacy rights of millions of American citizens have been taken away from them with the completion of a project code-named ECHELON. ECHELON is a global network of computers and satellites that can be used to listen to telephone conversations, as well as intercept e-mail and fax messages. The project originated in the United States by the National Security Agency and ever since the day it was launched, several other countries have joined this organization: the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, to name a few. Math teacher Fred Blattner said, “It doesn’t surprise me. Obviously privacy is something that we treasure. And we are certainly given this right through the U.S. Constitution. Whoever signs on to the Internet is expected to know that his/her privacy is being violated, whether wanted or not. I am personally more worried about what I tell Yahoo! than Echelon.” The surveillance system was originally created to minimize criminal and terrorist activities against the United States and allied countries. Allegedly, the United States government continuously disregards the fact that such a surveillance system exists. Officials have never admitted the existence of ECHELON. The FBI admits that they have used ECHELON for several of their criminal cases and have successfully cleared any criminal threat. Yet the government keeps its eternal silence. The truth of the matter is that Echelon is targeted at non-military and military personnel. The system can supposedly intercept any telecommunications line in the world, whether it is an international or local conversation or message. This clearly violates the First Amendment and enfringes upon every American citizen’s chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The American Civil Liberties Union, quoted from The United Kingdom Online News press, said: “ECHELON is perhaps the most powerful intelligence gathering organization in the world. Several credible reports suggest that this global electronic communications surveillance system presents an extreme threat to the privacy of people all over the world. According to these [written] reports, ECHELON attempts to capture staggering volumes of satellite, microwave, cellular, and fiber optic traffic, including communications to and from North America. These vast quantities of voice and data communications are then processed through sophisticated filtering technologies. This massive surveillance system apparently operates with little oversight.” Duncan Campbell, a British analyst, has found that the U.S. government, along with other countries involved with ECHELON, is using the system’s worldwide array of satellite-dish listening devices to conduct industrial espionage. This matter has been under debate for several months now. The Senate and the House of Representatives have been looking at this global surveillance system for some time now. Senator Frank Church said in ECHELON: America’s Secret Global Surveillance Network: “If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back, because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology…” “I am not worried about ECHELON. As far as I know, the government can already eavesdrop on my telephone conversations. There are plenty of other things to worry about,” added Blattner.