Tuesday, October 08, 2013



Canada spied on Brazil

Today's NSALeak: it wasn't just the NSA spying on Brazil - Canada was also involved:

Canada, as well as the US, infiltrated and spied on the Brazilian Energy Ministry, a new leak by Edward Snowden has revealed. The leaked documents show how the data gleaned through espionage was shared with international spy network the ‘Five Eyes.’

Newly-released documents handed over to Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald by former CIA employee Edward Snowden describe in detail how Canadian intelligence infiltrated Brazil’s Energy and Mines Ministry.

[...]

The program showed documents from a meeting of the ‘Five Eyes’ spy network, comprising the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, in June of last year. In a presentation the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSRC) – the Canadian version of the NSA – outlined how they used a program called Olympia to break through the Brazilian ministry’s encryption.

The information gleaned from the ministry was then shared with all of the members of the ‘Five Eyes.’

Given Canada's relationship with Brazil, this espionage can only be economic, aimed at profiting its companies. And it raises the question: this appears to have been a project shared across the Five Eyes. Was New Zealand involved too?

This exposes us to the potential for diplomatic repercussions. Brazil has already cancelled a state visit to the US, and you can bet it will be less cooperative in diplomatic and trade negotiations. And as one of the Five Eyes who can now be presumed to be spying on them, we may very well suffer the same fate. And not just from Brazil - as international disquiet grows, we may find doors being closed to us on the basis of who our spy-friends are. And we would completely deserve it.