blogging it real

I wonder if anything like this goes on in Canada? I wouldn't be surprised.

Come to think of it, I recall reading on several occasions that the Echelon international spy system screens *every* email and international phonecall. Whether there's a computer system out there powerful enough to handle so much data I don't know.

----------

London, March 21: British universities have been doubling up as spy networks
to keep an eye on foreign students from so-called "red flag countries" like
India, Pakistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Israel and North
Korea.

The scheme, quietly set up following the September 11 attacks in the United
States, is aimed at helping MI5 keep potential terrorists under
surveillance.
Students from these countries are likely to have their emails intercepted
and cellphones listened to in an attempt to ensure that terrorists do not
use universities as cover for their activities.

Scotland Yard special branch officers monitor these emails and calls, and
universities are expected to pass on information on suspicious meetings,
activities or absences. Several students are believed to have been ordered
to leave Britain as a result of such monitoring, after it was discovered
that they had links to extremist groups.

The special branch and MI5 are running the vetting operation in cooperation
with most of Britain's universities, which goes much further than the
controversial voluntary vetting system that was introduced in 1994 to
prevent the transfer overseas of technology related to Weapons of Mass
Destruction.

Under that scheme, some universities agreed to contact the UK government
when assessing applications from potential students from certain rogue
states. Since September 11, however, the institutions have been asked to go
further and secretly gather and assess information on foreigners studying at
their institutions.