Subotai @83:

Sir: I submit for your enlightenment, if you haven’t seen it yet:

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2010/05/catching-shahzad.html

When a warrant isn’t forthcoming, or there’s no time to get it, and law enforcement agencies can’t deploy the necessary surveillance assets themselves, which they much prefer, No Such Agency asks our cousins at GCHQ to monitor the traffic on a specific number, email recipient, etc. and send anonymous tips, (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) to the CIA controller, FBI taskforce, U.S. Secret Service Special Agent, etc.

ECHELON. There really is no such program. Instead there are several other programs and capabilities that, taken together, accomplish most everything attributed to ECHELON by the tin hat wearing brigades.

Please remember that anything you send electronically via the Internet, radio, or telephone is monitored. Certain email addresses, telephone numbers, use of key words or phrases may trigger further interest, and analysis by an actual human being, and possible flagging for further analysis or reporting to “interested” parties.

Mostly they just ignore things that aren’t judged to be serious & credible threats; otherwise the entire system would be overwhelmed. Routine, banal criminal activity is ignored out of hand in nearly every case. It is, very common, and reporting incidents of common criminality would point to methods and sources in a way that would render them less effective against the actual intended targets of such monitoring.

If you really want privacy in your electronic communications, develop and use a set of one-time cryptographic keypads, and practice good COMSEC techniques.

What did you plant in your garden? I’m in the process of putting in onions, corn, turnips, carrots, and lima beans myself.