American Ambassador denies U.S. spying in Brazil

Criado em 09/07/13 11h13 e atualizado em 10/07/13 07h52
Por Sabrina Craide Edição:s Fonte:Agência Brasil

Brasília – The United States ambassador in Brazil, Thomas Shannon, informed the communications minister, Paulo Bernardo, on Monday (July 8) that the U.S. did not gather data in Brazilian territory and that local companies in Brazil did not cooperate with the U.S. secret service.

According to Bernardo, Shannon confirmed that the U.S. government monitors data in the United States such as telephone numbers, the time telephone calls are made and where they’re made from, but which does not include the content of conversations. The ambassador affirmed that no such monitoring takes place in Brazil.

“Shannon denied communications surveillance takes place here in Brazil. He said that the data center [reported on in the Brazilian media] never existed and that there’s no partnership with Brazilian companies with the purpose of gathering data in Brazilian territory”, the minister said after a meeting with the American ambassador. Shannon further informed the minister that the U.S. government will make a formal reply to the inquiry on the subject by Itamaraty, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations.

When he left the meeting, Shannon told the press that the information published on the monitoring of data belonging to Brazilians by the U.S. presented a picture “that was not correct” regarding the US intelligence program.

A news article published on Sunday (July 7) by a major Brazilian newspaper, O Globo, revealed that telecommunications in Brazil were among the top targets set by the National Security Agency, as reported by documents leaked by former NSA agent Edward Snowden. The data were being monitored using a highly-classified electronic surveillance program called Prism.

According to Paulo Bernardo, the American ambassador said the article is “sensationalist” and that the topic is addressed in an exaggerated manner by the newspaper.

The minister has already sent a request to the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) for telecom companies with headquarters in Brazil to be inspected. The purpose is to find out whether they breached rules on the confidentiality of data and telephone communication.

Brazil’s National Union of Telephone Companies and Mobile Service ("SindiTelebrasil") said that no telecom service provider has given any information that may violate users’ privacy.

“We must investigate. It’s in the news and documents are mentioned. I think it’s important to have preliminary assessments and investigate. The Brazilian government will definitely do that”, said Bernardo.

Editors: Carolina Pimentel / Nira Foster
Translators: Fabrício Ferreira / Allen Bennett