The actions of former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, will have far-reaching and lasting international repercussions. Snowden has been charged in the U.S. for espionage having taken secret documents from the NSA and leaking them to the media. The stolen documents detail top-secret U.S. and British government mass surveillance, or spying, programs.
Brazil Starts Its Own Spying Investigation
In early July, the Brazilian government launched an investigation into whether Brazilian telecommunications firms cooperated with the U.S. in the surveillance program that collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations from around the world. Anatel, the Brazilian agency that regulates the telecommunications industry in Brazil, has reported that it is cooperating with the investigation.
The reason for the concern, according to information published by Brazilian newspaper Globo, is that information leaked by Snowden shows that Brazil was a major target of the NSA’s intelligence gathering effort in Latin America.
While it is still unclear as to exactly what data was collected under the surveillance program, it is expected that the program collected metadata that includes logs of telephone calls as well as email message times and addresses. Actual content of the messages does not seem to have been collected.
When interviewed by the Globo TV network, Glen Greenwald, the U.S. journalist who received the leaks and broke the story, said that the documents leaked by Snowden show that the U.S. used Brazil as a “bridge” to gather data from countries where the NSA could not gain direct access.
Google May Have Also Been Involved with Spying in Brazil
Now the data storage policies of the search engine giant Google are being investigated as a part of the overall investigation into whether Brazilian companies were involved in spying. President Dilma Rousseff is specifically concerned about Google storing data about Brazilian citizens outside of Brazil.
According to The Washington Post newspaper, Google did not comment on President Rousseff’s concern, but it maintains that it has not provided any government with access to its systems. However, Google did admit that it does provide user data to governments in accordance with the law.
During a visit to Brazil in May, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden announced that he will host President Rousseff when she visits in October. During her visit, Vice President Biden will also discuss improving relations and increasing trade between the two countries.
The fallout from the NSA documents leaked by Snowden will certainly continue to impact international relations. The situation not only raises privacy issues, but it also raises issues relating to Brazil’s sovereignty.
