CIA blasts WikiLeaks for publishing secret documents

Yahoo – AFP, Paul Handley, Rob Lever, March 9, 2017

Assange said WikiLeaks had "a lot more information" about the CIA's hacking
operation but would hold off on publishing it until it had spoken to tech
manufacturers (AFP Photo/Saul LOEB)

Washington (AFP) - The Central Intelligence Agency accused WikiLeaks of endangering Americans, helping US rivals and hampering the fight against terror threats by releasing what the anti-secrecy site claimed was a trove of CIA hacking tools.

A CIA spokeswoman would not confirm the authenticity of the materials published by WikiLeaks, which said they were leaked from the spy agency's hacking operations.

Nevertheless, said spokeswoman Heather Fritz Horniak, "The American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the intelligence community's ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries."

"Such disclosures not only jeopardize US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm," she said.

Horniak defended the CIA's cyber operations, which the WikiLeaks materials showed focused heavily on breaking into personal electronics using a wide range of malware systems.

"It is CIA's job to be innovative, cutting-edge, and the first line of defense in protecting this country from enemies abroad," she said.

Massive leak

On Tuesday, WikiLeaks published nearly 9,000 documents it said were part of a huge trove leaked from the CIA, describing it as the largest-ever publication of secret intelligence materials.

"This extraordinary collection, which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code, gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA," it said.

Graphic outlining technical objectives of CIA hacking schemes, according 

to a new document release by WikiLeaks (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

The documents showed that CIA hackers can turn a TV into a listening device, bypass popular encryption apps, and possibly control one's car.

Most experts believe the materials to be genuine, and US media said Wednesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is opening a criminal probe into the leak.

The source of the materials remained unclear. The investigation could focus on whether the CIA was sloppy in its controls, or, as The Washington Post reported, it could be "a major mole hunt" for a malicious leaker or turncoat inside the agency.

WikiLeaks itself said the documents, hacking tools and code came from an archive that had circulated among US government hackers and private contractors.

An investigation would come as the CIA is already enmeshed in a politically-charged probe into Russia's alleged interference in the US election last year in support of President Donald Trump's campaign.

WikiLeaks, which has stunned the US government with a series of publications of top secret political, diplomatic and intelligence materials, said the publication Tuesday was only the first of a series of releases of CIA hacking materials.

That raised concerns that the site could release the actual hacking tools it obtained along with the documents. Experts worry those could fall into the hands of anyone, including US enemies and criminals.

Tech sector scrambles for fixes

The WikiLeaks documents detailed the CIA's practice of exploiting vulnerabilities in hardware and software, without ever informing producers of them.

The CIA allegedly found ways to hack into personal electronics from leading companies like Apple and Samsung, Android phones, popular Microsoft software, and crucial routers from major manufacturers.

The documents suggest it can also infiltrate smartphones in a way that allows it to get around popular messaging encryption apps.

The tech sector was scrambling to understand how their products were at risk.

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today

 were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address 

any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement on the 

WikiLeaks documents (AFP Photo/Jack Taylor)

"While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities," Apple said in an emailed statement.

"We're confident that security updates and protections in both Chrome and Android already shield users from many of these alleged vulnerabilities," Google director of information security and privacy Heather Adkins said in a released statement.

"Our analysis is ongoing and we will implement any further necessary protections."

Samsung and Microsoft both said they were "looking into" what WikiLeaks revealed.

Encryption apps safe

Joseph Hall, a technologist with the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital rights organization, said the documents raise questions about the US government's pledge last year to disclose vulnerabilities to technology firms.

That pledge means "security flaws should get back to the companies so they can get fixed, and not languish for years," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union commented in a tweet: "When the govt finds software security holes, it should help fix them, not hoard them and leave everyone vulnerable."

Companies that make encryption programs and apps targeted by the CIA said the revelations show the agency has not been able to break their software.

Open Whisper Systems, which developed the technology for the Signal encryption app, said the CIA documents showed that Signal works.

"None of the exploits are in Signal or break Signal Protocol encryption," the group said in a tweet.

"The existence of these hacking tools is a testimonial to the strength of the encryption," said Steve Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science researcher, in a blog post.

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WikiLeaks announces tech firm cooperation - New

Germany cancels Verizon contract over snooping fear

BBC News, 26 June 2014

German Chancellor Angela Merkel types on a smartphone

Related Stories

• Germany opens Merkel bugging probe

The German government has cancelled a contract with Verizon over concern that US firms may be giving data to US authorities.

Verizon has provided internet services to a number of German government departments and the current contract was due to run out in 2015.

The firm did not comment on the move.

There was anger in Germany over allegations that a US agency bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone.

Earlier this month Germany announced an investigation into those allegations which were made by a former contractor of the US National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden.

There is no suggestion that Verizon was involved, but the controversy has put pressure on US technology firms doing business in Germany.

High level security

German Interior Ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said: "There are indications that Verizon is legally required to provide certain things to the NSA, and that's one of the reasons the cooperation with Verizon won't continue".

"Furthermore, the ties revealed between foreign intelligence agencies and firms in the wake of the US National Security Agency affair, show that the German government needs a very high level of security for its critical networks," he said.

Verizon is the second biggest US telecoms company after AT&T.

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Hillary Clinton backs overhaul of surveillance powers in NSA criticism

Former secretary of state calls for the restoration of constitutional privacy protections weakened after 9/11 attacks

theguardian.com, Dan Roberts in Washington, Wednesday 18 June 2014

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has called on Congress to
restore constitutional privacy protections. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Hillary Clinton has thrown her weight behind political efforts to rein in US surveillance powers in her most forthright criticism yet of the National Security Agency (NSA).

The former secretary of state, who has hitherto largely stayed out of the debate sparked by leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, called on Congress to restore constitutional privacy protections weakened after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre.

"We are finally taking stock of the laws that we passed after 9/11," she told Fox News interviewer Greta Van Susteren. "We did all of this in an a hurry because we were worried and scared and now we need to take a step back and figure out how we make sure that the balance between liberty and security is right."

Clinton, who admitted in an earlier CNN interview that she had disagreed with her husband's cautious support for Snowden, defended the government's legal right to carry out some bulk collection of American data but said she now backed efforts in Congress to change the law.

"Laws that were passed after 9/11 gave the executive very broad authority ... what has happened is that people have said, OK, the emergency is over and we want to get back to regular order," she said.

"It's a really difficult balancing act, but you are absolutely right that we need to make some changes to secure that constitutional right to privacy that Americans are due."

The House of Representatives recently passed a version of the USA Freedom Act that seeks to outlaw the bulk collection of American data, although civil liberties campaigners worry that it has been watered down by administration lawyers and are pushing for a tougher version in the Senate.

Clinton was also scathing the of NSA's spying on the leaders of foreign allies such as Germany and was asked whether chancellor Angela Merkel was right to be angry.

"Yes, she should be. That was absolutely uncalled for," replied Clinton. "There is [legitimate counter-terrorism] work that we need to do with the Germans and inside Germany ... that has nothing to do with Angela Merkel's cell phone and that should be off limits."

The Fox News interview, a rare foray by Clinton in hostile political territory, was dominated by familiar questions about her reaction to attacks on US consular staff in Benghazi but the former secretary of state also strayed into more contemporary diplomatic questions during a separate interview on CNN.

Clinton appeared to distance herself from suggestions by current secretary of state John Kerry that the US could seek assistance from Iran in stemming insurgent attacks in Iraq.

"I am not prepared to say that we go in with Iran right now until we have a better idea what we are getting ourselves into," she told CNN.

But Clinton also supported a growing consensus inside Democratic circles that unilateral US military intervention could also be a mistake.

She criticised Iraqi prime minister Maliki, claiming he had "purged the military that we trained ... and forced out some of the most able commanders" and suggested the White House was seeking tougher assurances from him before offering support.

"I think that right now there are those hard negotiations going on," said Clinton. "With respect to air attacks that needs to be part of a larger package and I believe that is part of the intense negotiations that are going on."

She also said it was a mistake for Iraq not to strike an agreement for an ongoing US troop presence after its main military withdrawal.

Related Article:

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Brazil passes online privacy law as Web governance conference starts in Sao Paulo

Deutsche Welle, 23 April 2014

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has ratified a bill guaranteeing Internet privacy and access to the Web. It comes as Sao Paulo hosts a global conference on Internet governance.

The legislation, which was passed by parliament late on Tuesday, puts limits on the metadata that can be collated from Internet users in Brazil. It also makes Internet service providers not liable for content published by their users and requires them to comply with court orders to remove offensive material.

Rousseff, who was in Sao Paulo for the opening of the NetMundial global conference on Internet governance, has been at the forefront of efforts to formally recognize Internet freedom and privacy.

Rousseff has been pushing for
measures on Internet governance

Last year, when it was revealed that she had been under surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA), Rousseff cancelled a state visit to the US and started to champion Internet freedom and privacy.

Speaking at the opening of NetMundial, she said that "the Internet we want will only be possible in a scenario of respect for human rights, in particular the right to privacy and freedom of expression."

Despite her differences with the US, Rousseff praised Washington for its decision to hand over the management of ICANN and IANA, which manage the Internet's global domain name system, next September.

"I salute the US government's recently announced plan to replace its links to IANA and ICANN with a global management of those institutions," she said on Wednesday.

During the two-day conference, government officials, industry executives and academics from around the world are expected to agree on a set of principles to enhance online privacy that does not overly restrict the Internet's self-regulated nature.

They will also debate how to govern the Internet after the US hands over the reins at ICANN. The meeting's resolutions are non-binding, but Brazil hopes they can serve as the foundation for further discussions on Internet governance.

The main challenge is to find common ground between different governments and corporate Internet giants like Facebook and Google, who are opposed to more regulation.

ng/rc (AP, Reuters)

Senators to investigate NSA role in GCHQ 'Optic Nerve' webcam spying

Three senators condemn UK spy agency’s ‘breathtaking lack of respect’ over interception of Yahoo users’ webcam images

theguardian.com, Spencer Ackerman in Washington, Friday 28 February 2014

US navy admiral Cecil Haney, left, and NSA director Keith Alexander testify
before the Senate on Thursday. Photograph: Gary Cameron/Reuters

Three US senators are planning to investigate any role the National Security Agency played in its British partner’s mass collection of Yahoo webcam images.

Reacting to the Guardian’s revelation on Thursday that UK surveillance agency GCHQ swept up millions of Yahoo users’ webcam chats, senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that “any involvement of US agencies in the alleged activities reported today will need to be closely scrutinized”.

The senators described the interception as a “breathtaking lack of respect for privacy and civil liberties”.

On Friday, the Internet Association – a trade body representing internet giants including Google, Amazon, eBay, Netflix, AOL and Twitter – joined the chorus of condemnation, issuing a statement expressing alarm at the latest GCHQ revelations, and calling for reform.

According to documents provided to the Guardian by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the GCHQ program codenamed Optic Nerve fed screengrabs of webcam chats and associated metadata into NSA tools such as Xkeyscore.

NSA research, the documents indicate, also contributed to the creation of Optic Nerve, which attempted to use facial recognition technology to identify intelligence targets, particularly those using multiple anonymous internet IDs.

Neither NSA nor GCHQ addressed the Guardian’s questions about US access to the images themselves. Outgoing NSA director Keith Alexander walked away from a reporter on Thursday who asked the army four-star general about the NSA’s role in Optic Nerve.

Wyden, Udall and Heinrich are all members of the Senate intelligence committee. They said they were “extremely troubled” by Optic Nerve and planned to investigate it during the committee’s announced omnibus inquiry into the scope of US surveillance activities revealed over the nine months since the Guardian and other news outlets began reporting the Snowden disclosures.

“We are extremely troubled by today’s press report that a very large number of individuals – including law-abiding Americans – may have had private videos of themselves and their families intercepted and stored without any suspicion of wrongdoing. If this report is accurate it would show a breathtaking lack of respect for the privacy and civil liberties of law-abiding citizens,” they said.

GCHQ’s program, which uses data collected by cable taps as it transits the internet, does not filter out information from British or American webcams. Under UK law, there is no requirement for UK or US material to be removed from the agency’s databases. Additional legal safeguards apply when analysts come to search the database for material on individuals located in the British Isles, though there are no UK laws banning searches for US citizens’ data without a warrant.

The documents seen by the Guardian make clear the lengths to which GCHQ has gone to prevent sexually explicit material appearing in the analysts’ searches. According to one document, it made up between 3% and 11% of the material stored under Optic Nerve.

The agency used face recognition software in an attempt to prevent explicit images clogging up search results but the documents make it clear that those tools were not always successful. Analysts were advised that if they were “uncomfortable about such material” they should not open the images. The guidance adds: “Retrieval and or reference to such material should be avoided.”

GCHQ declined to comment on Optic Nerve but said all its programs operated in full accordance with UK law.

The three US senators said the revelation prompted new thinking about how the interconnectedness of global communications had “dramatically increased the likelihood of innocent Americans being swept up in intelligence collection nominally aimed at foreigners.

“It is becoming clearer and clearer that more needs to be done to ensure that ‘foreign’ intelligence collection does not intrude unnecessarily on the rights of law-abiding people or needlessly undermine the competitiveness of America’s leading industries.”

President Barack Obama said in a 17 January speech that foreigners ought to enjoy some degree of privacy from US surveillance, but has left the specifics undefined.

In a statement, the Internet Association’s CEO Michael Beckerman said:

Today’s revelations, about British intelligence practices, are alarming and reaffirm the need for greater transparency and reform of government surveillance. 

Governments must immediately act to reform the practices and laws regulating surveillance and collection of Internet users’ information. The most pressing Internet user privacy issue continues to concern governments’ access to and use of electronic data. The Internet Association supports the Reform Government Surveillance principles and encourages legislation to limit governments’ authority to collect users’ information and increase transparency about government demands.

Related Article: 

UK spies 'intercepted webcam images of Yahoo users'

Obama clips NSA's wings but bulk collection to continue

Google – AFP, Stephen COLLINSON (AFP), 17 January 2014

US President Barack Obama speaks about the National Security Agency (NSA)

 and intelligence agencies surveillance techniques at the US Department of Justice

in Washington, January 17, 2014 (AFP, Jim Watson)

Washington — President Barack Obama curtailed the reach of massive US National Security Agency phone surveillance sweeps Friday, but argued that bulk data collection must go on to protect America from terrorists.

In a long-awaited speech designed to quell a furor over the programs exposed by Edward Snowden, Obama also said he had halted spy taps on friendly world leaders and proposed new protections for foreigners caught in US data mining.

"Given the unique power of the state, it is not enough for leaders to say: trust us, we won't abuse the data we collect," Obama said at the US Justice Department.

Civil liberties activists hold a rally against

 surveillance of US citizens as US President

 Barack Obama is expected to announce

reforms of the National Security Agency

(NSA) at the Justice Department in

Washington, DC on January 17, 2014

(AFP, Nicholas Kamm)

Obama's proposals represented a search for common ground between the intelligence community's resistance to reform and civil liberties advocates who view phone and Internet data trawling as a mass invasion of privacy.

They emerged from a prolonged period of reflection by the president and a comprehensive White House review of the national security superstate that sprung up hurriedly after the September 11 attacks in 2001.

"America?s capabilities are unique," Obama said.

"The power of new technologies means that there are fewer and fewer technical constraints on what we can do.

"That places a special obligation on us to ask tough questions about what we should do."

It is doubtful however that the reassessment would have happened were it not for explosive disclosures by Snowden in one of the greatest security breaches in US history.

In the most significant reform, the president committed to ending the NSA's hoarding of telephone "metadata" detailing the duration and destination of hundreds of millions of calls but not their content.

He stressed that he did not believe that abuses had occurred or that US spies had been "cavalier" about civil liberties.

But he agreed with critics who say the program could yield information about private lives and open the door to more intrusion.

"I believe we need a new approach. I am therefore ordering a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk metadata program as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk meta-data."

Obama called on Attorney General Eric Holder and the NSA to come up suggestions for an alternative way to hold the material within 60 days.

Possible alternatives include keeping records with telecommunications firms, which are currently compelled to turn it over to the NSA, or to deposit it with a third party.

Obama also said that from now on, NSA agents would need the endorsement of a special intelligence court before accessing data on a specific target.

The NSA will also now only be permitted to access call data from people at two removes from a suspect in an investigation. Previously it could probe three "hops."

But the president made clear that the retention of phone data could provide a vital tool for US spies to trace links between terror suspects and must continue.

"Being able to quickly review telephone connections to assess whether a network exists is critical to that effort," Obama said.

The president also said that he had already ordered a halt to dozens of phone tap operations targeting friendly foreign leaders.

"I have made clear to the intelligence community that -? unless there is a compelling national security purpose ?- we will not monitor the communications of heads of state and government of our close friends and allies," he said.

The move followed a furor over claims by fugitive contractor Snowden, now exiled in Russia, that US spies snooped on the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders.

But he also took a swipe at the chorus of complaints about US activities from some allies, saying US spies will carry on about their business.

"We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective," he said, and noted that rivals like Russia and China would not undertake such an open debate.

Obama is also taking the unprecedented step of extending personal protections enjoyed by Americans to foreigners caught in US phone and Internet data sweeps.

The measures include restrictions on how long data can be held and to introduce restrictions on its use.

The president, who has demanded Snowden return home to face trial, only mentioned the US nemesis in passing.

"The sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come," Obama said.

Civil liberties activists hold a rally against

 surveillance of US citizens as US President

 Barack Obama is expected to announce

reforms of the National Security Agency

(NSA) at the Justice Department in

Washington, DC on January 17, 2014

(AFP, Nicholas Kamm)

The reforms got a guarded welcome from privacy advocates, questions about how they would work -- and some disappointment they did not go further.

"President Obama's announced solution to the NSA spying controversy is the same unconstitutional program with a new configuration," said Republican Senator Rand Paul, a prominent libertarian critic of government surveillance overreach.

"We are incredibly thankful that the President recognizes that the government should eventually stop collecting bulk data on innocent Americans, but the key question is, what's next?" said Kevin Bankston of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute.

Steven Hawkins, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA said that privacy still remained under threat.

"President Obama?s recognition of the need to safeguard the privacy of people around the world is significant, but insufficient to end serious global concern over mass surveillance, which by its very nature constitutes abuse," he argued.

Internet privacy as important as human rights, says UN's Navi Pillay

Navi Pillay compares uproar over mass surveillance to response that helped defeat apartheid during Today programme

theguardian.com, Haroon Siddique, Thursday 26 December 2013

Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Navi Pillay, during a press conference in Geneva
earlier this month. Photograph: Martial Trezzini/AP

The UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has compared the uproar in the international community caused by revelations of mass surveillance with the collective response that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Pillay, the first non-white person to serve as a high court judge in South Africa, made the comments in an interview with Sir Tim Berners-Lee on a special edition of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, which the World Wide Web inventor was guest editing.

Pillay has been asked by the UN to prepare a report on protection of the right to privacy, in the wake of classified documents being leaked by the former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden about UK and US spying and the collection of personal data.

The former international criminal court judge said that her encounters with serious human rights abuses, which included serving on the Rwanda tribunal, did not make her take internet privacy less seriously.

"I don't grade human rights," she said. "I feel I have to look after and promote the rights of all persons. I'm not put off by the lifetime experience of violations I have seen."

She said apartheid ended in South Africa principally because the international community co-operated to denounce it, adding: "So, I see how combined and collective action by everybody can end serious violations of human rights and really that experience inspires me to go on and address the issue of internet [privacy] which right now is extremely troubling because the revelations of surveillance have implications for human rights … People are really afraid that all their personal details are being used in violation of traditional national protections." She described it as a grave issue.

The UN general assembly unanimously voted last week to adopt a resolution, introducedby Germany and Brazil, stating that "the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, including the right to privacy". Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel , were among those spied on, according to the documents leaked by Snowden. The resolution called on the 193 UN member states "to review their procedures, practices and legislation regarding the surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data, with a view to upholding the right to privacy of all their obligations under international human rights law". It also directed Pillay to publish a report on the protection and promotion of privacy "in the context of domestic and extraterritorial surveillance ... including on a mass scale". She told Berners-Lee that it was "very important that governments now want to discuss the matters of mass surveillance and right to privacy in a serious way".

Berners-Lee has warned that online surveillance undermines confidence in the internet and last week published an open letter, with more than 100 free speech groups and leading activists, to protest against the routine interception of data by governments around the world.

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Edward Snowden broadcasts Channel 4's alternative Christmas Day message

Snowden Declares 'Mission Accomplished'

Snowden Declares 'Mission Accomplished'

Radio Free Europe, December 24, 2013

Edward Snowden in Moscow in October

Former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) consultant Edward Snowden says his "mission's already accomplished" because he has forced a reassessment of U.S. spying policies.

In an exclusive interview posted online by "The Washington Post" on December 23, Snowden said that he leaked NSA secrets so that the American people would "have a say in how they are governed."

Snowden spoke to the daily in Moscow, where he was granted temporary asylum in August. Snowden said that he has been living as an "ascetic" in Moscow.

He said he lives off of noodles and chips and spends most of his time on the Internet. "I have no relationship with the Russian government," Snowden said. "I have not entered into any agreements with them."

Barack Obama will read the report over the holidays before

deciding which recommendations he will choose to accept. 

Photograph: Zhang Jun/Xinhua/Corbis

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NSA mass collection of phone data is legal, federal judge rules - New

NSA phone surveillance program likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules

EU lays down steps US must take to protect data

Google – AFP, 27 November 2013

A pictures shows binary code reflected from a computer screen in a

woman's eye on October 22, 2012 (AFP/File, Leon Neal)

Brussels — The EU on Wednesday laid down steps Washington must take to restore trust after a huge spy scandal, including giving EU citizens the right to US legal redress to protect personal data.

"Massive spying on our citizens, companies and leaders is unacceptable," EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said, adding there was "now a window of opportunity to rebuild trust which we expect our American partners to use".

An umbrella agreement being negotiated on EU-US data protection "has to give European citizens concrete and enforceable rights, notably the right to judicial redress in the US whenever their personal data are being processed in the US," Reding said in a statement.

EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding

 speaks during a press conference in

 Brussels, on September 17, 2013 (AFP/File,

John Thys)

At the same time, EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malstroem said she was satisfied that separate EU-US accords on the transfer of airline passenger and financial transaction data were working properly.

A key concern in Europe -- where memories of surveillance by fascist and communist dictatorships remain alive -- is the pressure Washington exerts on giant US companies to hand over personal data, including those of EU citizens, on national security grounds.

Up to now, Brussels and Washington have reconciled their differences in a 2001 'Safe Harbour' agreement meant to ensure US companies respect EU norms on commercial use of personal data.

In the EU, personal data protection is considered to be a basic right whose commercial use must be carefully controlled.

Safe Harbour now needs to be tightened up, Redding said, setting a deadline of mid-2014 to agree the changes with Washington.

Among 13 suggested changes, she included a provision requiring US companies to make clear the extent to which US authorities have the right to collect and process personal data they may have gathered.

The "national security" justification often cited for such government access must also be used only if strictly necessary.

Reding said the EU should conclude reform of its own data protection laws and be actively involved to ensure that US reforms promised by President Barack Obama "also benefit EU citizens".

Highlighted by the reported US tapping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone, data protection has become a hugely sensitive topic since intelligence leaker Edward Snowden released evidence of a massive network of US spy operations on friend and foe alike earlier this year.

The uproar prompted the European Parliament to call for talks on a massive free trade deal with the United States to be scrapped, along with the Safe Harbour system.

Data protection has become a hugely

sensitive topic since intelligence leaker

Edward Snowden described a massive
network of US spy operations on friend
and foe alike earlier this year (AFP/File,
Prakash Singh)

But the European Commission stressed again Wednesday that data protection standards would not be part of the negotiations on the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

Malstroem meanwhile said the Commission, the EU's executive arm, would not suspend data protection accords "just because of press articles" -- an apparent reference to reports based on Snowden's leaks.

The Passenger Name Record (PNR) system for airline passengers and the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) "provide effective safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of European citizens," Malstroem said.

The "clear and effective guarantees in place" allow the Commission to "make sure that the US authorities stick to agreed rules," she said.

The EU will continue alert and monitor "the lawful implementationof EU-US agreements on data transfers," she added.

US Senator Christopher Murphy (r) congressman Gregory Meeks speak
in Berlin over the NSA scandal. Photo: dpa

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