TIME World New Zealand Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealand Citizens Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Internet Party leader Laila Harre, Robert Amsterdam, Glenn Greenwald and Kim Dotcom discuss the revelations about New Zealand's mass surveillance at Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand on Sept. 15, 2014. Hannah PetersGetty Images New Zealand prime minister denies his government helped U.S. collect data on private citizens by gaining access to undersea cables

Documents released by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden purport to show U.S. and New Zealand officials have collected Internet data via underwater cables that connect New Zealand, Australia and North America.

The documents, reported by The Intercept and the Sydney Morning Herald, are said to show the program, called Speargun, had initially been implemented in 2012 or early 2013 by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand.

The GCSB was alleged to have gained covert access to a Trans-Pacific undersea cable network through which data is transmitted between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii, to allow the NSA to harvest data.

Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key denies that the GCSB has participated in mass surveillance of citizens, though he reportedly would not discuss the existence of the program New Zealand reportedly used to conduct surveillance.

Snowden said in an interview with The Intercept website, which first reported the programs existence, that the Prime Minister was fully aware of the program. The Prime Ministers claim to the public, that there is no and there never has been any mass surveillance, is false, Snowden said. The GCSB, whose operations he is responsible for, is directly involved in the untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via internet, satellite, radio, and phone networks.

[Sydney Morning Herald]

Original post:
Snowden Leaks show New Zealand, NSA Spied on Underwater Cables

Stuff.co.nz

Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom has revealed his 'Moment of Truth' with guests Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Glenn Greenwald.

Edward Snowden claims there is a US National Security Agency facility in Auckland and in the north of New Zealand.

The former US contractor-turned-fugitive whistleblower was beamed into the Auckland Town Hall from Russia for Kim Dotcom's "Moment of Truth" event.

As an NSA infrastructure analyst he "realised the absolute scale of how deep this went."

Hours beforehand, in a report on the website of journalist Glenn Greenwald, Snowden claimed that while working for the US NSA he "routinely" came across the communications of New Zealanders while working in the XKeyscore mass surveillance tool.

"It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individuals private email, text messages, and internet traffic," he wrote.

A network of sensors placed around the world would allow him to search on an email address. One of those sensors is in New Zealand.

Snowden said X-Keyscore is collecting the communications of people in New Zealand and it is not related to foreign intelligence.

Snowden said that within the Five Eyes intelligence network, New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)contributes to the collection of communications.

Original post:
Snowden claims US spy sensor 'in NZ'

(Reuters) - Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden could be granted safe passage in Switzerland if he helped a potential criminal inquiry into U.S. spying there, the Swiss public prosecutor's office said on Monday.

He would probably not be extradited to the United States if Washington asked, but it was also unlikely that he would be granted political asylum, according to a document laying out Switzerland's legal options if Snowden were to visit.

The prosecutor's office, which provided the document to Reuters, stressed the issue was "purely hypothetical" because Snowden had not been invited to come from his current refuge in Russia. It had no further comment.

The document was leaked last week and prompted a lively debate in the Swiss media.

Some German politicians have suggested inviting Snowden to Germany to testify about National Security Agency spying there, but Berlin has ruled that out to avoid a clash with Washington over extraditing him to the United States.

Michael McCaul, Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, reacted to the Swiss debate by telling the U.S.-based Foreign Policy magazine that Snowden should not be allowed to "trade our intelligence community's sources and methods for safe haven in other countries".

GENEVA CIA ACTIVITIES

According to the three-page Swiss document, "Edward Snowden could be assured of free movement by the federal prosecutor if he cooperated with a criminal investigation" into U.S. spy activities he says he learned about while working in Geneva.

Switzerland would not comply with a U.S. extradition request if he is accused of treason or divulging state secrets because such charges would have a "political character" under Swiss law, the document said.

The guarantee for Snowden's free passage in Switzerland could be trumped by "higher state obligations" such as a treaty, the document said, adding this required more study.

More here:
Switzerland Says It Would Shield Snowden From 'Political' Extradition To US

Published September 15, 2014

Sept. 15, 2014 - Former NSA systems analyst turned leaker Edward Snowden appears via video link from Russia to hundreds at the Auckland, New Zealand Town Hall. Snowden says the NSA is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore program and has set up a facility to tap into vast amounts of data.(AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Former National Security Agency systems analyst turned leaker Edward Snowden said Monday that the NSA is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore program and has set up a facility in the South Pacific nation's largest city to tap into vast amounts of data.

Snowden talked via video link from Russia to hundreds of people at Auckland's Town Hall.

Shortly before he spoke, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key issued a statement saying New Zealand's spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, has never undertaken mass surveillance of its own people. Key said he declassified previously secret documents that proved his point.

"Regarding XKeyscore, we don't discuss the specific programs the GCSB may or may not use," Key said. "But the GCSB does not collect mass metadata on New Zealanders, therefore it is clearly not contributing such data to anything or anyone."

Snowden, however, said Key was carefully parsing his words, and that New Zealand agencies do collect information for the NSA and then get access to it.

"There are actually NSA facilities in New Zealand that the GCSB is aware of and that means the prime minister is aware of," Snowden said. "And one of them is in Auckland."

He said Key was avoiding the main issue by not talking about XKeyscore.

"To this day, he's said I won't talk about this. I won't talk about this because it's related to foreign intelligence," Snowden said. "But is it related to foreign intelligence if it's collecting the communications of every man, woman and child in the country of New Zealand?"

See the rest here:
Snowden: NSA collecting data on New Zealanders

Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden's claims that the GCSB carries out mass surveillance inside New Zealander are "simply wrong", Prime Minister John Key says.

Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden's claims that the GCSB carries out mass surveillance inside New Zealander are "simply wrong", Prime Minister John Key says.

"There is not, and never has been, mass surveillance of New Zealanders undertaken by the GCSB," he said after Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) analyst, published his claims on The Intercept website.

They're part of the "Moment of Truth" revelations Kim Dotcom is about to announce in Auckland.

"If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched," Snowden wrote.

"At the NSA I routinely came across the communications of New Zealanders in my work with a mass surveillance tool we share with the GCSB, called XKEYSCORE.

"It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individuals' private email, text messages, and internet traffic."

Mr Key, who has always denied the GCSB carries out mass surveillance or does anything outside the law, says he's setting the record straight.

"I believe New Zealanders deserve better than getting half of a story, embellished for dramatic effect and political gain, and based on incomplete information," he said in a statement after Snowden had published his claims.

"The GCSB undertakes cyber security operations to protect individual public and private sector entities from the increasing threat of cyber attack."

The rest is here:
NZ PM rejects Snowden's spying claims