Internationally, the Echelon program, created by the United States and the UK during the Cold War, seems to have been converted into industrial espionage, according to the French government agencies, by combining traditional eavesdropping and interference of telecommunications, with interception of electronic messages.

p. 176 - The Internet Galaxy - Reflections on the Internet, Business, and Society (2001) - Chapter 6, Privacy and Liberty in Cyberspace