What Does Echelon Mean?

ECHELON is the title that a highly reticent and secretive universal network dealing with intelligence and analysis is described by. It is handled by the UKUSA community, or the Anglo-Saxon alliance. An account of this has been given by many sources, a committee of the European Parliament to name one. As per a few sources, ECHELON can grab communication through radio and satellite, phones, faxes and other data from almost everywhere on the planet. Their technology consists of computer generated analysis and classification of intercepts.

It was apparently invented to keep a check on the military and foreign political activity of the Soviet Union and its allies in the course of the Cold war in the beginning of the sixties.
Today it is said to be looking out for information on activities of terrorism, drug trafficking and national intelligence. Although according to some, this system is being misused for major commercial money squandering and invading one's privacy.