Brazil will probe telecommunications companies to see if they illegally shared data with the NSA after it was found the US had been spying on President Rousseff. Brazil’s government has accused the US of lying about the NSA’s activities in the country.
In response to the revelations, Brazilian President Dilma
Rousseff called an emergency meeting of ministers. Following the
meeting the government called on the National Telecommunications
Agency (Anatel) to carry out checks on telecom companies based in
Brazil to see if they collaborated with the NSA.
The Brazilian government denounced the NSA’s activities as
“impermissible and unacceptable” and a violation of
Brazilian sovereignty.
“[The US has] not given any reasonable explanations. In fact,
all the explanations that have been given so far are false,”
said Minister of Communications Paulo Bernardo.
The American ambassador to Brazil, Thomas Shannon, was summoned
by the government to account for the reports of NSA snooping on
Tuesday. He claimed the NSA does not monitor communications on
Brazilian territory or collaborate with telecommunications
companies.
Citing data leaked by Edward Snowden, Guardian journalist Glenn
Greenwald revealed on Sunday that the NSA had been monitoring
both the Brazilian and Mexican presidents.
“It is clear in several ways that [Rousseff’s] communications
were intercepted, including the use of DNI Presenter, which is a
program used by NSA to open and read emails and online
chats," Greenwald told AP in an email.
Brazilian-US relations on rocks
In the wake of the new scandal Brazilian media is speculating
whether the spy revelations will lead to a knee-jerk reaction
from the Brazilian government and the cancelation of Dilma’s
October visit to the States.
Citing a presidential spokesperson, Globo reporter Gerson
Camarotti wrote that if a “satisfactory explanation” is
not given by the Americans then Dilma “will not rule out
canceling the visit.”
“There has to be a convincing explanation. If this doesn’t
happen, the situation will become extremely delicate,” said
the spokesperson.
US relations with Brazil have worsened considerably as a result
of Edward Snowden’s leaks regarding the NSA’s massive spy
network. Back in August, UK authorities detained Brazilian
citizen David Miranda in a London airport over suspicions he was
carrying leaked NSA data on behalf of his partner Glen Greenwald.
UK law enforcement held Miranda for nine hours under the
terrorist act and confiscated electronic equipment.
Brazil called Miranda’s detention without charges unjustifiable
and called on the UK authorities to account for the move.
Meanwhile Brazilian lawmakers have called for police protection
for Greenwald and his partner.