The United States’ NSA and Britain’s GCHQ have been exposed yet again.
Documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveal the agencies spied on private German companies as well as more than 100 world leaders. (Via Flickr / Fraktion DIE LINKE)
Der Spiegel reports Britain’s GCHQ spied on three German companies: Stellar, CETel, and IABG.
Stellar is a teleport service provider. The company says it specializes in "connecting America to the Middle East, Africa and Asia."
CETel is also a teleport service provider. It’s network "extends to almost 2000 remote sites in more than 50 Countries across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia."
And IABG which provides several services in the areas of automotive, aeronautics, defence, security, and more. (Via YouTube / IABG)
GCHQ reportedly tapped into these companies to gain — quote — "wider knowledge of Internet traffic flowing through Germany." And unfortunately the revelations don’t stop there.
In this chart, published by several news organizations, including The Intercept, you can see a portion of a list of 122 world leaders. Those who made the list are being monitored by a system called Nymrod.
A writer for The Intercept says Nymrod’s purpose is to "'find information relating to targets that would otherwise be tough to track down.' ... Nymrod sifts through secret reports based on intercepted communications as well as full transcripts of faxes, phone calls, and communications collected from computer systems."
And this news comes after tension formed between the U.S. and Germany due to revelations the U.S. was tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone calls.
Despite the leaks, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council told The Intercept the Obama administration is not, in fact, monitoring Chancellor Merkel’s communications — still she didn’t deny former surveillance. (Via Wikimedia Commons / א)
All of this surveillance could get the U.S. and Britain into some international legal trouble.
The Guardian reports German lawmakers may open an investigation into potential espionage crimes.
