U.S. spied on millions of e-mails and calls of Brazilians
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It's interesting to see him strategically releasing these stories to maximize impact of the information. While I'm sure Latin American leaders knew of or at least suspected NSA spying, seeing confirmation in such a revealing way must certainly strengthen their resolve to stand up to the US "treating them as colonies," which can only be good news for Snowden.
It's also interesting to think about the stated mission of the NSA, which is to collect foreign intelligence. Is that a black and white statement? Are there boundaries and human rights to be respected? America respects international law on not torturing to some debatable degree, perhaps a "spying" agreement is needed to define the acceptable limits on collecting foreign intelligence, which I don't believe yet exists.
It is and always will be a gray area.
But wherever that grey area ends, the mass violations of the civil rights of millions of citizens of friendly nations is so far in the black I'm constantly surprised people even bring up the question.
This isn't even about where the unwritten boundaries of intelligence gathering are. Those have been well and truly crossed when you start violating the civil rights of millions of innocents.
The grey area the NSA has crossed into is the one marked "hostile acts of aggression".
Yes, they respect it by calling it "advanced interrogation techniques" or something like that. So they aren't doing "torture", therefore it's legal, just like "don't call it bribe, call it "campaign donations", so then it's legal, too.
A lot of stuff is handled this way in US, especially after 9/11. A lot of 1984 newspeak.
First, by "America" you mean "The USA". I don't want to be nitpicking, but since the article is about another country of the Americas I'd clarify that.
Second, the US do not torture people but on their own soil, but practice it through third parties. Finally, the US do not recognize the International Criminal Court.
What astonishes me is not that it's happening, but the sheer scale of the thing. I would find odd my mail being of interest, but why in hell would anyone be interested on what my mom exchanges with her friends?
To ensure complete information collection, it would not be smart of any spying agency to only target "suspicious" email accounts, when a suspect could use their own mother's email to communicate to other suspects' mother's email.
Much like airport security does random searches instead of targeted searches (to only people with Middle Eastern features, for instance), randomizing probably helps. It helps even more to gather information from ALL email accounts.
Right now Brazil is deeply divided, the people feel very let down and undervalued, there are mass protests and demonstrations of the streets. A sort of South American spring as it were. Now, the politicians may be able to divert attention on to a common enemy.
Of course, diverting attention to what could be seen as international concerns, might just annoy the population more.
Dunno, but I do see potential political use for this latest information.
Don't worry about it, just bread and^W^Wgames.
Via Orkut???
What is the surprise here? "Agency created to spy on foreign powers is spying on foreign powers"... really?
Would you be happy to have the government of a random country, say Russia, Brazil, Albania or whereever, reading your emails?
Holy fark! its simply mind boggling that anyone can be ok with the level of spying we are seeing.
The thing is that they are simply too farking comfortable to see how bad this is.
I farking HATE the fact that there is an easy statement of " 'well, American Idol is on..' " -- and to see that it is true.
The war is on the minds of Man. There is and has been a centuries long war on your ability to discern.
I wonder if a restoration to monarchies would encourage agencies of the crown to keep their spying to other royal and powerful persons, since then the average subject would indeed have no power.
For some reason they appear to be spying on me, specifically.
I do find that surprising, yes. Shocking, even.
Scary, certainly. What will they do if I say something they don't like? How will I know? Who is deciding whether what I am saying is acceptable?
Because I am against this spying, have the Americans started monitoring me more carefully? Will they contact my government for more information?
My job is contractor to a local business that receives a lot of business from my government. Could that be affected by my private communications? One of my friends is a bit of an anti US nut. Will my communications with him put me at greater risk?
By denying entry to you on your next vacation or business trip to the United States.
What is the surprise here? "Agency created to torture puppies is torturing puppies"... really?