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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on July 10, 2013, 06:11:11 AM
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/09/us-usa-security-latinamerica-idUSBRE96816H20130709
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(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has targeted most Latin American countries in its spying programs, with Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico ranking among those of highest priority for the U.S. intelligence agency, a leading Brazilian newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Citing documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the fugitive former American intelligence contractor, O Globo newspaper said the NSA programs went beyond military affairs to what it termed "commercial secrets."
These included petroleum in Venezuela and energy in Mexico, according to a graphic O Globo identified as being from the NSA and dated February of this year.
Also swept up in what O Globo termed as U.S. spying were Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Chile, Peru and El Salvador.
Peru's President Ollanta Humala said on Tuesday that the reported spying was worrisome.
"We are against these kinds of espionage activities," Humala said in a televised interview. "It would be good for (Peru's) Congress to look with concern at privacy issues related to personal information."
The most intense surveillance was directed at Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico, the newspaper said.
The Globo article was written by Glenn Greenwald, Roberto Kaz and José Casado. Greenwald, an American citizen who works for Britain's Guardian newspaper and lives in Rio de Janeiro, was the journalist who first revealed classified documents provided by Snowden, outlining the extent of U.S. communications monitoring activity at home and abroad.
Greenwald said on Sunday in a Twitter message that he had worked with O Globo on the reports to relay more quickly the scope and reach of the alleged surveillance. The bulk of Greenwald's stories thus far have appeared in the Guardian.
As disclosed by Snowden to the Guardian, the NSA's Prism program collated mail, Internet chat and files directly from the servers of companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype.
O Globo cited documents saying that from January to March this year, NSA agents carried out "spying actions" via "Boundless Informant," which it said cataloged telephone calls and access to the Internet. Agents also used Prism from February 2 to 8 this year, O Globo said.
A main NSA surveillance target was Colombia, the United States' top military ally in the region, where drug trafficking and movements by the FARC guerrilla group were monitored, O Globo said.
In Venezuela the NSA spied on military procurement and the oil industry, and in Mexico the agency gathered information on the drug trade, the energy sector and political affairs using Prism.
The newspaper reported on Sunday that the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency had gathered telephone and email data in Brazil, based on documents Snowden provided to Greenwald.
Brazil's telecommunications agency said on Monday it would investigate whether local operators had violated customer privacy rules in alleged surveillance of Brazilian telecommunications data by the U.S. spy agencies.
The decision came as U.S. officials, including the American ambassador in Brasilia, sought to reassure Brazil that O Globo reports on Sunday and Monday about NSA surveillance of Brazilian communications were incorrect.
According to O Globo, access to Brazilian communications was obtained through American companies that were partners with Brazilian telecommunications companies. The report did not identify any of the companies but said an NSA program called Silverzephyr was used to access phone calls, faxes and emails.
O Globo also reported this week that the CIA and the NSA jointly ran monitoring stations to gather information from foreign satellites in 65 countries, including five in Latin America, citing documents dating from 2002 leaked by Snowden.
The so-called Special Collection Service operated from the capitals of Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Brazil. The newspaper said it was not known whether the alleged satellite espionage continued after 2002.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Editing by W Simon and Dan Grebler)
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Meh, its pretty much known we spy on everyone, and I dont really have a problem with it. I get upset when those poweds ade turnex inwards, in clear violation of our constitional right to privacy. Since our constitution does not extend past our borders, I really couldnt give a fuck less about them spying on the rest of the world