Spy Software to Monitor Phone Conversations, E-mails and Text Messages: UN Counter-Terrorism Official to “Investigate” US and British Spying Agencies
A senior UN counter-terrorism official is to
assess Edward Snowden’s revelations that US and British intelligence
agencies are using specific software to retain and monitor telephone
conversations, e-mails, and text messages. UN Special Rapporteur Ben
Emmerson said in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian
that his inquiry would seek to establish whether the British parliament
had been misled about the capabilities of the G-C-H-Q, which is the
British intelligence agency that specializes in electronic surveillance.
He added that the media had a duty and right to publish stories about
the activities of British and U-S spy agencies. The inquiry is expected
to make a series of recommendations to the UN General Assembly next
year. (www.corbettreport.com)
Press TV has conducted an interview with James
Corbett, the editor of the corbettreport.com, about the United Nations
launching an investigation into the massive surveillance programs of
American and British intelligence agencies following revelations from US
whistleblower Edward Snowden.
What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: This inquiry will not have much power but
it can make recommendations to the UN General Assembly. What kind of
recommendations do you think it is going to be making?
Corbett: Well it is difficult to say what
recommendations it will be able to make especially because the UN
General Assembly is a body without any teeth as it has been demonstrated
over the previous decades.
And again I am not sure what this new inquiry is
going to uncover because I think only the most naïve in international
relations have not understood already that they were being spied on by
the US and Britain and other intelligence agencies. Besides, it is
really just the Edward Snowden’s leaks [that] are bringing this to the
forefront.
So I am not sure that this inquiry will really have
really much effect other than a symbolic one and I do not think any
recommendations other than the recommendations not to spy on allies will
be the result of this type of inquiry.
Press TV: But does the symbolism of this go very far
in putting pressure on governments like that of the UK and the US who
have been pressuring the media like The Guardian newspaper to not
publish these revelations?
Corbett: Well certainly the pressure is mounting not
only from the political classes but perhaps more importantly from the
average public which is now increasingly aware that these practices go
on.
But I think if the UN was being serious about really
investigating these claims, they would start by looking in their own
backyard because of course the most egregious cases of spying have
happened at UN summits or on UN premises in New York as has come out
time and time again in the past and in fact just recent revelations from
earlier this month, sorry earlier last month, showing once again for
example Indonesia was spied on by the US at the UN Summit and we have
had reassurances from the Obama administration back in October that they
would not be spying on the UN anymore but given the track record of
what has happened at the UN in the past, I think we can take those
assurances for what they are worth.
So there certainly is a symbolic value in this and in
any way it is good I think to put the pressure on these agencies to
stop this type of spying activity.
Press TV: So then basically what you are saying is
that we will see a lot of condemnation coming out of this for the US,
for the UK and maybe even more revelations but it will be business as
usual when it comes to our privacy online as far as telecommunications
go?
Corbett: Very much so and in fact we see that the
biggest political brouhaha is about the spying that is happening on
politicians themselves, on governments, on government agencies but there
is not that type of widespread condemnation of what is happening to the
average citizens.
And as you mentioned there and as Snowden revelations
and other leaks have made clear, basically communications across the
board on the internet are being collected wholesale by the NSA and its
adjunct in Britain and in other intelligence agencies across the world
and I think there needs to be more outrage on that issue rather than
specifically on spying on governments.
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