Snowden leaks: France summons US envoy over spying claims

[EC]

Yes, it is technically World News, but Belongs in Scandal Watch.

Via the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24607880

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has summoned the US ambassador over newspaper claims that the US spied on millions of phone calls in France.

France has labelled such activity between allies as "unacceptable".

Le Monde says the data, based on leaks from ex-intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, suggest the US NSA agency monitored businesses and officials as well as terrorism suspects.

The intercepts were apparently triggered by certain key words.

The paper says the National Security Agency (NSA) spied on 70.3 million phone calls in France in just 30 days between December 10 last year and January 8, 2013.

The agency also apparently captured millions of text messages.

It was unclear whether the content of the calls and messages was stored, or just the metadata - the details of who is speaking to whom.

And the paper did not say whether the operation, codenamed US-985D, was still in progress.

Mr Fabius announced that he had summoned the US ambassador to discuss the claims "immediately".

Interior Minister Manuel Valls had earlier said the allegations were "shocking", and added: "If an allied country spies on France, this is totally unacceptable."

More at link. The sidebar analysis is definitely worth a read.

[mountaineer]

CBS:

France summons U.S. ambassador after report says NSA swept up 70.3M French phone records in a month

PARIS The U.S. National Security Agency swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period, according to a newspaper report that offered new details of the massive scope of a surveillance operation that has angered some of the country's closest allies. The French government on Monday summoned the U.S. ambassador for an explanation.

The report in Le Monde, co-written by Glenn Greenwald who originally revealed the NSA surveillance program, found that when certain numbers were used, the conversations were automatically recorded. The surveillance operation also swept up text messages based on key words, Le Monde reported, based on records from Dec. 10 to Jan 7.

The Le Monde reporting emerged as [French-looking] U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris for diplomatic talks Monday about a peace process for Israel and Palestinian authorities.

"This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said during a meeting in Luxembourg with his European counterparts. Fabius said the U.S. ambassador had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry. ...

Similar programs have been revealed in Britain and Germany. In Brazil, the revelations so angered the president that she cancelled a state visit to Washington and publicly denounced the U.S. for "violation of human rights and of civil liberties."

Meanwhile, Mexico's government said Sunday it "categorically condemns" email spying, after a German news magazine reported that documents from NSA leaker Edward Snowden say the U.S. gained access to the email system of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

"This practice is unacceptable, illegitimate and contrary to Mexican law and international law," Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said in a statement.  ...

Rest of story