Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Canada spying in Brazil: more to come, Greenwald promises

Canada hasn't seen the last of stories alleging spying activity in Brazil, journalist Glenn Greenwald told CBC News on Monday.

Greenwald collaborated with the news agency that first reported the latest details, working from records leaked to him by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, he said in an interview with Carol Off, host of CBC Radio's As It Happens.

And there may be more to come.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald collaborated with a Brazilian news agency that first reported the details of CSEC's alleged spying activities there, working from records leaked to him by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. (Vincent Yu/Associated Press)

"There's a lot of other documents about Canadians spying on ordinary citizens, on allied governments, on the world, and their co-operation with the United States government, and the nature of that co-operation that I think most Canadian citizens will find quite surprising, if not shocking, because it's all done in secret and Canadians are not aware of it," Greenwald said.

The original report on Globo television alleges the Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSEC, was using metadata from phone calls and emails to track the communications of Brazil's Energy and Mines Ministry.

'Express satisfaction in the results'

CSEC, as well as the offices of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and National Defence Minister Rob Nicholson, refused to comment on foreign intelligence gathering activities.

Asked if the document on which he reported Sunday showed where Canada benefited from the alleged espionage, Greenwald said he can't talk about documents he hasn't published yet.

"But obviously Canada is not expending enormous amounts of money to create a spying system that doesn't produce any valuable secrets. And ... even in this document, they express satisfaction in the results of their efforts and so I think it's fair to infer even just from this document that they reaped benefits from this."

Asked whether he has documents discussing specific companies, Greenwald again declined to comment.

"I'm just not going to talk about what's coming until it's ready," he told Off.

Greenwald said the document was in the NSA's possession because it had been presented at a signals development conference held by the Five Eyes, the name given to five allied countries that collaborate on foreign intelligence: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the United States.

Original Article
Source: CBC
Author: Laura Payton

No comments:

Post a Comment