The National Security Agency eavesdropped on hundreds of phone numbers belonging to dozens of world leaders, newly leaked documents supplied by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden reveal.

The documents leaked to the Guardian by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden illustrate how the Government Communication Headquarters feared the possibility of being challenged under the Human Rights Act if details of privacy invasions leaked.
rt.com/news/gchq-surveillance-snowden-secrecy-749

Germany, Brazil enlist 19 more countries for anti-NSA UN resolution

After some scrutiny by legal experts at the European Parliament this week, several individuals concluded that the actions of both governments were illegal according to international law.
The best part, is that it isn’t even being considered illegal on a technicality, but on a breach of human rights – a much stronger argument. This was determined by people who should know what they’re talking about too, as one judge served on the EU court of human rights for over 15 years, another was an international law professor and yet another was an expert on human rights and counter-terrorism

The last person on that list, was Martin Scheinin, a UN special rapporteur from 2005 to 2011, who said that he believed the actions of the NSA and GCHQ ammounted to a “massive interference with the privacy rights of EU citizens,” and that both US and UK governments were currently violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which states that citizens should not be ““subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence.”

President Obama was aware of NSA spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel since 2010, German media have revealed. An NSA spokeswoman later denied the allegations.

According to German Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which cited US intelligence sources, National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander briefed Obama on the bugging operation against Merkel in 2010.

"Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue," an unnamed high-ranking NSA official told the newspaper.

Moreover, the paper said, the US president later ordered the NSA to prepare a comprehensive dossier on Merkel.

That contradicts earlier reports that Obama personally assured Merkel he didn’t know – and that he would have stopped it if he had.

During a single month last year the US National Security Agency intercepted some 60 million phone calls in Spain, newly leaked documents from Edward Snowden reveal, according to a report to be published in Spanish daily The World.

The NSA bugged 46 million phone calls in Italy in a month, according to digital library host Cryptome. The report is the latest in the revelations that the agency tapped hundreds of millions of phone lines across Europe.

The snooping, between Dec. 10, 2012 and Jan. 8, 2013, reportedly did not appear to track the content of calls but rather telephony metadata, including the origin and duration of the calls.

The alleged monitoring of citizens’ phone calls follows an article in the Italian weekly, L’Espresso, which claimed that US intelligence had monitored Italian telecoms networks, targeting the government and companies as well as suspected terrorists.

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) also reportedly monitored telephone, Internet and email traffic carried through three undersea fiber-optic cables in Italy as a part of its Tempora program.

"In this mass collection, our secret services had a role," the publication cited Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who helped publish leaked documents obtained by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, as saying.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said Thursday that the alleged monitoring of Italian telecommunications by US and British intelligence would be both "inconceivable and unacceptable."

So the trial is kicking off, (after jury selection).

Be honest, the only thing there's an element of suspense about is what excuse they'll use to let them off lightly.