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Brazil gathers support for UN resolution against spying
October 28, 2013, 5:13 am

Media reports revealed information based on leaked documents provided by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden that phone and email communications of both Dilma Rousseff and Angela Merkel were under NSA surveillance [Getty Images]

Media reports revealed information based on leaked documents provided by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden that phone and email communications of both Dilma Rousseff and Angela Merkel were under NSA surveillance [Getty Images]

Responding to reports of massive surveillance of its citizens and leaders by the US intelligence agencies, Brazil, alongwith Germany are enlisting support from 19 other countries to draft a UN resolution against spying.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has warned the US that there will be a “growing reaction” from countries targeted by the spying scandal.

Rousseff has strongly condemned the recent reports of the US National Security Agency (NSA) spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying it was “a grave violation of sovereignty.”

The Merkel administration is slated to send its intelligence officials to the US to ask for explanations.

Merkel demanded on Thursday that Washington strike a “no-spying” agreement with Berlin and Paris by end of year.

Media reports revealed information based on leaked documents provided by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden that phone and email communications of both Dilma Rousseff and Angela Merkel were under NSA surveillance.

Brazilian President Rousseff has already urged the UN to form a global body that would draft international rules on privacy and security in cyberspace.

“The time is ripe to create the conditions to prevent cyberspace from being used as a weapon of war, through espionage, sabotage and attacks against systems and infrastructure of other countries,” she said in her opening statement at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

German daily Bild am Sonntag published a report on Sunday that said US President Barack Obama knew the NSA was spying on Angela Merkel as long ago as 2010 and did nothing to stop it.

“Obama didn’t stop the operation back then but let it continue,” the paper quoted the source as saying.

 

With inputs from Agencies