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October 22, 2013

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France, Mexico request answers in US spying row

Source: AFP | October 22, 2013, Tuesday | Print Edition

France and Mexico have angrily demanded prompt explanations from the United States over new spying allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden.

French daily Le Monde and German weekly Der Spiegel said in separate reports published yesterday the US National Security Agency (NSA) secretly monitored tens of millions of phone communications in France and hacked into former Mexican president Felipe Calderon’s email account.

The allegations come on top of revelations already leaked by Snowden and published in June that the US had a vast, secret program called PRISM to monitor Internet users, which French prosecutors are already investigating.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said he was “deeply shocked” by the revelations and demanded an explanation from US authorities.

“It’s incredible that an allied country like the United States at this point goes as far as spying on private communications that have no strategic justification, no justification on the basis of national defense,” he said while in Copenhagen.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, on a visit to Luxembourg for a meeting with his EU counterparts, said US ambassador Charles Rivkin had been summoned to his ministry for a meeting late yesterday.

“These kinds of practices between partners that harm privacy are totally unacceptable,” he said, adding that France needed assurances that the US was no longer monitoring its communications.

His comments were relayed to the US ambassador during the meeting, a ministry spokesman said.

It was the second time in less than four months that America’s top representative in France has been hauled in over revelations about US snooping.

The latest leak is also expected to prove embarrassing for US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was due in Paris yesterday for talks with Arab officials.

Fabius will raise the issue with him in talks planned for this morning, the spokesman said.

According to the Le Monde report, which cited documents from Snowden, the NSA monitored 70.3 million telephone exchanges in France over a 30-day period between December 10 and January 8 this year.

Der Spiegel also revealed US agents had hacked into the Mexican presidency’s network, gaining access to Calderon’s account.

According to the report, the NSA said this contained “diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico’s political system and internal stability.”

The agency reportedly said the president’s office was now “a lucrative source.”

Mexican authorities said they would be seeking answers from US officials “as soon as possible.”

“This practice is unacceptable, illegitimate and contrary to Mexican law and international law,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

 

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