VARIOUS: Outrage mounts across Europe as more information released about alleged NSA spying

Record ID: 481064

  • Title: VARIOUS: Outrage mounts across Europe as more information released about alleged NSA spying
  • Date: 30th October 2013
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 30, 2013) (REUTERS) BERLIN'S LANDMARK BRANDENBURG GATE (SOUNDBITE) (German) BY-PASSER, CLAUDIA, SAYING: "In my opinion they should have noticed that it was happening earlier and I think it is a shame that our government didn't do very much to stop it." (SOUNDBITE) (German) BY-PASSER, NAME UNKNOWN, SAYING: "I think it is all being somewhat exagger
  • Embargoed: 14th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain, Germany, France, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom France Germany Spain
  • Topics: Communications,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACHNBRPL4DV53E28HRAMMVGIC3
  • Story Text: People across Europe continued to express their anger on Wednesday (October 30) over claims that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been tapping phones across the continent, including that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
    Merkel's top foreign affairs and intelligence advisers are set to quiz officials in Washington on Wednesday over the activities of U.S. spies in Germany.
    The visit is one of a series of trips by high-ranking German and European Union officials to the United States this week after revelations of the scale of the surveillance triggered outrage and shattered European trust in Washington.
    Merkel wants the United States to agree a "no spying" deal with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year and to stop alleged espionage against two of Washington's closest EU allies.
    In the German capital Berlin, people were disappointed by the actions of the U.S. government but said they were not surprised.
    "I don't think it is good. It's a disgrace. I don't do much, except use my mobile phone and pay with card because I know that it is all traceable. I think it is a outrageous that people are being spied on," one woman, Beate told Reuters TV.
    "I think they definitely went too far with the chancellor but if they are spying in general, and one doesn't have anything major to hide, then I don't think it is quite so bad," said by-passer Alfonz.
    While another man said the worldwide outrage wasn't necessary.
    "In my opinion they should have noticed that it was happening earlier and I think it is a shame that our government didn't do very much to stop it," he said.
    The White House did not deny reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) had monitored Merkel's phone but said no such surveillance was taking place now.
    Wednesday's visit comes a day after a European Union team met the head of the NSA, army General Keith Alexander, and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee.
    Later this week the heads of Germany's domestic and foreign intelligence agencies will also travel to Washington.
    Meanwhile Spanish citizens also expressed their disapproval as Spain's public prosecutor launched a preliminary inquiry on Tuesday (October 29) into reports that U.S. intelligence has spied on million of its citizens.
    Attorney General Eduardo Torres-Dulce authorised an information gathering process after El Mundo newspaper reported on Monday (October 28) that the United States had tracked more than 60 million Spanish phone calls, his office said in a statement.
    "It's disgusting, excuse me for my answer, but nobody likes being listened to in their home and that's what they have done. They are friends when it's convenient, but really, it's incredible," one outraged man told Reuters Television in the capital Madrid.
    "I don't think it's right. They should have dealt with it through diplomatic channels and that needs to be corrected and investigated in order to see if it has a legal repercussions and if it's the case break bilateral relations and revise international agreements between both countries," said another man called Borja.
    Spain summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to discuss the allegations, which are similar to reports of U.S. spying in France and Germany that have caused a rare diplomatic upset between the Washington and its European allies.
    Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said if the reports were true it would break the "climate of trust" between the two countries.
    El Mundo published a graphic it said was a National Security Agency (NSA) document showing the U.S. agency had spied on 60.5 million phone calls in Spain between December 10, 2012 and January 8 this year. It said the document was part of papers obtained from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
    The White House has assured the British government that Prime Minister David Cameron's communications "have not and will not" be monitored by the United States, but many Briton were sceptical of that claim.
    Londoner Roger Butson said he was very concerned that nothing is private anymore.
    "It just makes you think where everything is going to if things can be tapped into. So, what is the future? Has anybody got any privacy in this day and age?" he said.
    Cameron has emphasised the special relationship between the US and UK calling it a "unique" security alliance.
    But Londoner Mark Van Es questioned Washington's claim that Downing Street was not on America's spy radar.
    "Oh, I think that they are listening to everyone....I think they are doing it in their own self interests and so when they say that they are allies, that to me is a betrayal of trust," he said.
    Last week the allegations that the US spy agencies tapped the phones of European politicians and citizens dominated an EU summit in Brussels.
    Some Britons believe all countries spy on each other, and that is just part of life.
    "I would have been surprised if they hadn't been doing it actually. Each country has an obligation to their own people and their own sovereign state, not to any other state," said Londoner, Anna Soroko.
    Others, Tyran William, said the hand-wringing in Europe over the US spy allegations was hypocritical.
    "They are all a bunch of bleeding hypocrites because every single one them would try and do the same thing if they were in the same position," he said.
    Media reports have also emerged claiming that the NSA had accessed tens of thousands of French phone records leaving people anxious about their private spheres.
    "No this calls for general worry, in the sense that we don't really like being spied on in the shower any less than being spied on on the telephone. It could create tensions. But every country has its intelligence services and it's true that it's complicated for them to get information without stepping on the freedom of others," one man told Reuters in Paris.
    "What do I think about that? Well I think it would be naive to say that we didn't know it or we hadn't heard of it. And to say that we don't the same without means, I guess we don't have the same servers and data access as American companies and American agencies have, but we probably try on our on way to spy on them, to spy on the Chinese, on the Russians and on everybody. It's just a political game," another man, Antoine, said.
    The U.S. Congress is weighing new legislative proposals that could limit some of the NSA's more expansive electronic intelligence collection programs.
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