Brazil: Another day,
another country angry over news that the
National Security Agency
has been conducting mass espionage
against its nationals and
companies.
Brazil 'Gravely Concerned' Over Reports of Massive NSA Espionage (O Globo, Brail)
"This claim is serious and should be discussed within the
United Nations on order to determine liability. This revives the worst nightmares
of George Orwell's Big Brother, but with stronger ingredients, if we consider
the technological development of spy agencies in the world's most powerful
nations. We are all, literally, vulnerable, exposed, not knowing where to turn,
and with a sense of unbearable impunity."
-- Marcus ViniciusFurtado,
president of the Order of Attorneys of Brazil
By FernandaKrakovics, Francisco Leali and Leonardo Cazes
Brazil Foreign Minister Antônio Patriota is demanding an explanation from Washington today, after evidence came toi light showing massive NSA surveillance against his country.
-- Federal
Police and Anatel [National Telecommunications
Agency] will investigate whether Brazilian companies allowed the NSA access to local networks
-- In Paraty, Foreign Minister AntônioPatriota said that the government received the news with
grave concern
BRASÍLIA and PARATY: On Sunday, Brazil's government demanded explanations
from the United States regarding spying on Brazilian citizens and companies over
the last decade by the U.S. National Security Agency [NSA],
which is outlined in documents collected by former technician Edward Snowden, and which
were made available to O Globo. The Foreign Ministry sought clarification from
U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon, and has already asked its embassy in Washington
to do the same directly to the American government. Itamaraty
will also table a motion at the United Nations asking for improvements in cyber
security to prevent this type of abuse be one country against another. Internally,
the Federal Police and Anatel will investigate whether companies headquartered
in Brazil allowed the NSA to have access to local
communications networks.
The
Brazilian government is also working under the assumption that the U.S. has monitored
telephone calls, messaging and Internet data by tapping into underwater
fiber optic cables.
“It
is more than likely that the monitoring is done by way underwater cables and
satellites. When it comes to international transmissions and phone calls, the
majority of cables pass through the United States,” said Communications
Minister Paulo Bernardo.
“We
are very concerned by this news, especially given the possible relationship
with Brazilian companies. If this really did happen, it is a crime against
Brazilian law and the Constitution. Our Constitution guarantees the right to
intimacy and privacy. If a Brazilian company is working in cahoots with foreign
companies to break the confidentiality of telephone communications and data, it
is nonsense,” said Bernardo.
The
Planalto
Palace [president’s office] will use this revelation of monitoring by the
U.S. to try and force a vote in the Chamber of Deputies regarding landmark legislation
on civilian use of the Internet. One of the most controversial articles in the proposed
legislation involves the privacy of user data connection records, which many
consider an issue of insecurity and a risk to Internet users.
The
government also wants to speed the submission to Congress of a bill on personal
data protection to guarantee information confidentiality. There is currently no
legislation in Brazil that ensures the security of Internet data. On another
front, the government will act within international organizations to foster multilateral
governance of the Internet, similar to the World Health Organization, for
example. This is currently handled by ICANN,
an entity subordinate to the U.S. government.
“This
is a vitally important issue that concerns the right of people to relate to one another and share information
without being harassed,” Paulo Bernardo said.
Early
Sunday afternoon, Foreign Minister AntônioPatriota summoned the press in Paraty,
where the International Literary Festival is taking place, and issues a statement
that the government had received the news with grave concern.
“The
Brazilian government received with grave concern the news that the electronic
communications and telephone calls of Brazilian citizens have been subject to
spying by American intelligence agencies. We request clarification from the U.S.
government by way of the Brazilian Embassy in Washington and the American
ambassador to Brazil,” went the statement.
The
reaction was first articulated by President DilmaRousseff on Sunday morning, at a meeting with Ministers
Paulo Bernardo [communications], Gleisi Hoffmann [chief
of staff], IdeliSalvatti [institutional
relations], José Eduardo Cardozo [justice], AloizioMercadante [education] and Gilberto Carvalho
[secretary-general of the presidency] at Alvorada
Palace [the president’s residence].
What
most concerned President Dilma is the possibility of
political, commercial and industrial monitoring. At the meeting, the creation
of a huge national data storage system was discussed. Dilma
and her ministers discussed the amount of money it would take to create such a
system and the timeline for implementing it.
On
another front, House Deputy Ivan Valente, leader of PSOL [Socialism and Freedom Party] intends to file a
request no later than Tuesday, calling on the American ambassador to give an
explanation to the House Foreign Relations Committee. In the Senate, PSOL party leader Senator RandolfeRodrigues will file the same request.
“National
sovereignty requires drastic oversight of the unacceptable and invasive conduct
on the part of the North American government,” Ivan Valente
said. “The streets should execrate and repudiate the 'police of the world'
attitude of the United States."
Contacted
by the international news agency the
Associated Press, the American Embassy’s spokesperson in Brasília, Dean
Chaves, limited himself to saying that the case will be reviewed solely by the
government in Washington. Echoing the revelations from O Globo, the AP also contacted the Foreign Ministry of Brazil, which, through its
spokesperson Tovar Nunes, stated that if the
espionage is proven, “it would be something extremely serious,” to which the
Brazilian government “would respond depending on the severity.”
The
president of the Order of Attorneys
of Brazil, Marcus ViniciusFurtado,
argued that a complaint of espionage should be tabled to the United Nations. He
compared the espionage by the United States with the nightmare of Big Brother from
the book Nineteen Eighty Four
by George Orwell, in which all citizens were watched all the time.
“This
claim is serious and should be discussed within the United Nations on order to determine
liability. This revives the worst nightmares about George Orwell's Big Brother,
but with stronger ingredients, if we consider the technological development of spy
agencies in the world's most powerful nations. We are all, literally,
vulnerable, exposed, not knowing where to turn, and with a sense of unbearable
impunity,” said the OAB president.
John
Jeremiah Sullivan, an American essayist and journalist at the International
Literary Festival, expressed his outrage at the claim.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
“It’s
shameful. We Americans were also spied on. How will we live in a society where
it is possible to carry out this type of espionage - where it is nearly possible
to read a person's innermost thoughts in a database? From the moment it is
possible to do this, of course a government will do it. Are Americans the only
ones capable of this? Or are they the only ones stupid enough to get caught?”
As
O Globo
showed in the Sunday edition, Brazil, with its extensive public and private
electronic networks, which are operated by large telecommunications and Internet
companies, is highlighted on maps from the U.S. agency as a priority target for
spying of telephone and data traffic (origin and destination), along with
nations like China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan. It is unclear how many people
and companies were spied on in Brazil, but there is evidence that the amount of
data captured by the NSA filtering system is constant
and large scale.
