New Zealand spying row: Snowden as election wildcard?
The former NSA contractor serves up timely allegations ahead of New Zealand's elections on Sept. 20, potentially undermining incumbent Prime Minister John Key.
The former NSA contractor serves up timely allegations ahead of New Zealand's elections on Sept. 20, potentially undermining incumbent Prime Minister John Key.
Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden today accused the New Zealand government of spying on its citizens, just days before the country goes to the polls in national elections.
鈥淚f you live in New Zealand, you are being watched,鈥� he wrote in an opinion piece for the Intercept, an online news site run by journalist Glenn Greenwald. In it, he said that he regularly saw data from New Zealand when he was working for the NSA.
His allegation threatens to upend what has so far been a predictable campaign 鈥撀燼 poll three days ago聽showed Prime Minister John Key as the choice of 61.6 percent of voters, compared to 17.9 percent for his closest challenger, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Snowden's charges drew a quick rebuttal from Mr. Key, who vigorously denied that New Zealand鈥檚 Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) runs a mass surveillance program.
鈥淭here is not, and never has been, mass surveillance of New Zealanders undertaken by the GCSB,鈥� he said in a statement.
In his op-ed, Snowden urged New Zealanders to vote, writing that 鈥渃ome Sept. 20, New Zealanders have a checkbox of their own.鈥�
Snowden says Key's government, through the GCSB, funnels mass surveillance data into the NSA's XKeyscore program. He writes:
Key went on New Zealand television programs over the weekend to say that New Zealand intelligence agencies considered setting up a mass surveillance system, but ultimately decided against it.
Snowden鈥檚 accusations come on the same day that Kim Dotcom, the New Zealand resident fighting extradition to the US to face charges of internet piracy, copyright breaches and money laundering, hosted a 鈥淢oment of Truth鈥� forum at Auckland Town Hall.
Snowden and Julian Assange spoke via video-conferencing at the forum, which drew an audience of about 1,000. According to the Guardian live-blog of the event, the speakers questioned Key's release of the classified documents today, and spoke about Saturday's vote.聽
Snowden's comments drew cheers, the Guardian notes:
Kim Dotcom, who is ineligible to run in Saturday鈥檚 elections, but who donated $2.4 million to the Internet Mana Party, promised that his party, if elected, would stop mass surveillance and 鈥渃lose one of the five eyes,鈥� referring to the intelligence-sharing partnership between New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the US and the UK.聽
Fran O'Sullivan, a political correspondent for the New Zealand Herald, wrote that he doubts if the "Moment of Truth" forum will greatly impact the elections.