[governance] FW: Brazil opens investigation into US spying

Chaitanya Dhareshwar chaitanyabd at gmail.com
Wed Jul 10 14:09:31 EDT 2013


Kudos Brazil in being brave enough to take this big step. We'll be
following with interest as the outcome has potentially huge impacts.

-C


On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 2:08 AM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>wrote:

> *From:* sid-l at googlegroups.com [mailto:sid-l at googlegroups.com] *On Behalf
> Of *Sid Shniad
> *Sent:* Tuesday, July 09, 2013 11:31 PM
> *To:* undisclosed-recipients:
> *Subject:* Brazil opens investigation into US spying****
>
> ** **
>
> *
> http://www.kcautv.com/story/22786118/brazil-opens-investigation-into-us-spying
>
> Associated Press   July 8, 2013 *****
> Brazil opens investigation into US spying ****
>
> *By BRADLEY BROOKS
> Associated Press *****
>
> SAO PAULO (AP) - The Brazilian government began an investigation Monday
> into whether telecommunications firms operating in the country cooperated
> with the U.S. as part of a spying program that has collected data on
> billions of telephone and email conversations.****
>
> Anatel, the government agency that regulates the telecom sector in Brazil,
> said it's working with federal police and other government agencies on the
> investigation.****
>
> The O Globo newspaper reported this weekend that information released by
> the National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden showed Brazil is the top
> target in Latin America for the NSA's massive intelligence-gathering effort
> aimed at monitoring communications around the world.****
>
> Brazil isn't alone in its concern; London-based advocacy group Privacy
> International filed lawsuit on Monday over alleged spying of internet and
> phone users in Britain. Earlier, official in Germany, France, Hong Kong and
> other nations lodged complaints.****
>
> Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff the nation would raise the issue at the
> 193-country U.N. International Telecommunications Union and also at the
> U.N. Commission on Human Rights since the "fundamentals" of human rights
> include "freedom of expression and the right to privacy."****
>
> "If there was any involvement of other countries, of other businesses that
> aren't Brazilian, then it's certainly a violation of our sovereignty,
> without a doubt, just like it's a violation of human rights," Rousseff
> said. "Now, we have to look at things without pre-judgment, we have to
> investigate."****
>
> Brazilian regulator Anatel said in its statement that "it's worth
> clarifying that the confidentiality of data and telephone communications is
> a right guaranteed by the constitution, by our laws and by Anatel's
> regulations. Its violation is punishable in civil, criminal and
> administrative realms."****
>
> The O Globo article said the NSA collected the data through an undefined
> association between U.S. and Brazilian telecommunications companies. It
> said it could not verify which Brazilian companies were involved or if they
> were aware their links were being used to collect the data.****
>
> On Monday, O Globo reported that the U.S. had a significant data center in
> Brasilia for the collection of intercepted global satellite communications
> until at least 2002, based upon the Snowden document it's seen. The
> documents didn't indicate if that still exists.****
>
> Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo told reporters in Brasilia that he
> "has no doubt whatsoever" Brazilian citizens and institutions were spied
> upon.****
>
> "Even the European Parliament was monitored - you think that we weren't?"
> he said. "We have to verify the circumstances in which this occurred, the
> exact way and when."****
>
> Bernardo met Monday afternoon with U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon.****
>
> "He denied that there is such monitoring here in Brazil, he said that
> there never was a data center and that there is no agreement with Brazilian
> companies to collect data in Brazilian territory," Bernardo said afterward,
> according to the state-run Agencia Brasil news agency.****
>
> The O Globo article printed Sunday said that "Brazil, with extensive
> digitalized public and private networks operated by large
> telecommunications and internet companies, appears to stand out on maps of
> the U.S. agency as a priority target for telephony and data traffic,
> alongside nations such as China, Russia and Pakistan."****
>
> The report did not describe the sort of data collected, but the U.S.
> programs appear to gather what is called metadata: logs of message times,
> addresses and other information rather than the content of the messages.**
> **
>
> U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald, who lives in Rio de Janeiro and
> originally broke the Snowden story in the Britain-based Guardian newspaper,
> where he writes a regularly blog, co-authored the Sunday report in O Globo.
> ****
>
> In an interview with the Globo TV network, Greenwald said the Snowden
> documents show that the U.S. was using Brazil as a "bridge" to gather data
> on better-protected states where it cannot gain direct access, but whose
> traffic may pass through Brazil.****
>
> "We don't have access to China's system, but we have access to Brazil's
> system," Greenwald said, speaking Portuguese. "So, we collect the traffic
> in Brazil not because we want to know what one Brazilian is saying to
> another Brazilian, but because we want to know what someone in China is
> saying to somebody in Iran, for example."****
>
> Brazil's Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota expressed "deep concern" about
> the monitoring of Brazil and demanded explanations from U.S. diplomats. On
> Monday, he said the conversations with the Americans were "encouraging" but
> that "we need to deepen the discussions."****
>
> Patriota reiterated that Brazil was looking at how to take measures at the
> United Nations "that would guarantee not just privacy, but also the respect
> and the citizenship of states when it comes to the use of information
> technology and cyber security."****
>
> In Washington, the U.S. State Department declined to comment on the
> alleged intelligence activity.****
>
> "As a matter of policy, we have been clear that the United States does
> gather foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations. I can tell
> you that we have spoken with Brazilian officials regarding these
> allegations," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "We plan to
> continue our dialogue with the Brazilians through normal diplomatic
> channels. But those are conversations that, of course, we would keep
> private."****
>
> ___****
>
> Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this
> report.****
>
> ** **
>
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