t's a globe-girding spy network and its name is Echelon. It enables the United States and Britain to tap telephone, fax and e-mail messages worldwide. A special European Parliament committee says it´s found evidence after a nine-month probe of the network. But, it adds, there's no solid proof that Echelon has been used for industrial espionage or for eavesdropping on private citizens.

   Echelon was set up in the 1950s by the intelligence services of the United States and Britain. During the Cold War years, Canada, New Zealand and Australia joined the system, turning it into a world-wide network of listening posts that's still operational. Echelon is capable of intercepting billions of messages sent across the world either electronically or by satellite. Massive supercomputers scan the content of these messages for particular keywords, as Jan Marinus Wiersma, a member of the European Parliament committee explains:

   "By using passwords with a kind of search engine, they just at random intercept a lot of communications in order to find certain messages or certain e-mails, in which certain words are used."

   The committee's report says that a small number of these selected messages then land on the desks of professional intelligence officers, who then analyse them and pass them on to other government service. This would seem quite an alarming conclusion. But the European probe also stresses that Echelon can only process a fraction of all communications transmitted worldwide.

   In addition, the system appears to be mainly geared towards intercepting criminal or terrorist information, or messages from so-called rogue nations such as Iraq or North Korea. The committee found no solid evidence to confirm suspicions that the system has been used in commercial espionage against European companies to the advantage of US forms. But Mr Wiersma says some commercially sensitive data has been intercepted.

   "In general, the system is used to gather economic information, for example on sanctions-busting but also if they think there is fraud or bribing, and also of course to get information on financial movements or trade issues…"

   There are no international arrangements or treaties covering the interception of communications, explains Mr Wiersma. This makes it difficult to act against it. Besides, Russia has probably set up a similar spying system. Even an EU country such as France is believed to operate one. Mr Wiersma says he has little objection to the system as such.

   "You need to have the capability to intercept, to find out what the criminals are doing, or the terrorists, or the rogue states. So, I think in principle, there's nothing against having such a system in the framework of your security systems. But it should be organised in such a way that it's not used for industrial espionage or in a harmful way for private citizens."

   This is why the European Parliament committee is calling for international arrangements to protect communications by companies and citizens. In anticipation of these rules, people should be vigilant and use encryption as a means of protection.

   "I think it's better to be safe than sorry and I would advice companies and also individuals to be more aware of the risks, especially when using the Internet. These days it's not so difficult to buy encryption software. You can even download it for free from the Internet. You have to be aware that when you send an e-mail just like that, to send a letter without an envelope."