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| French anger over NSA surveillance dents diplomatic relations | French anger over NSA surveillance dents diplomatic relations |
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| French outrage at the scale of NSA espionage is the latest in a series of aftershocks around the world triggered by Edward Snowden's revelations about US and British espionage that have shaken relations with their allies and partners. | French outrage at the scale of NSA espionage is the latest in a series of aftershocks around the world triggered by Edward Snowden's revelations about US and British espionage that have shaken relations with their allies and partners. |
| However, in France as in other cases, distinguishing short-term embarrassment from long-term damage is complicated. Much of the backlash has been rhetorical, often from countries with well-developed electronic intelligence capabilities of their own, without immediate concrete consequences for political and economic ties. | However, in France as in other cases, distinguishing short-term embarrassment from long-term damage is complicated. Much of the backlash has been rhetorical, often from countries with well-developed electronic intelligence capabilities of their own, without immediate concrete consequences for political and economic ties. |
| But there are prominent exceptions to the general rule, and in many ways the knock-on effects for trade and investment relationships, in Europe and beyond, are only now beginning to make themselves felt. Long-stalled European privacy legislation has been dusted off in the wake of revelations by Snowden – a former NSA contractor now living under temporary asylum in Russia – about the bulk collection of the private phone and internet communications of European consumers, and the targeting of EU missions in New York and Washington for surveillance. | But there are prominent exceptions to the general rule, and in many ways the knock-on effects for trade and investment relationships, in Europe and beyond, are only now beginning to make themselves felt. Long-stalled European privacy legislation has been dusted off in the wake of revelations by Snowden – a former NSA contractor now living under temporary asylum in Russia – about the bulk collection of the private phone and internet communications of European consumers, and the targeting of EU missions in New York and Washington for surveillance. |
| Brazil has meanwhile made itself a rallying point for global opposition to the long reach of US electronic espionage, after it emerged that the NSA had bugged President Dilma Rousseff and her aides, and targeted the country's state-run oil company, Petrobras. Rousseff put off a trip to Washington due to take place and delivered a stinging denunciation of US surveillance from the podium of the UN general assembly in New York last month, minutes before Barack Obama addressed the world from the same spot. | Brazil has meanwhile made itself a rallying point for global opposition to the long reach of US electronic espionage, after it emerged that the NSA had bugged President Dilma Rousseff and her aides, and targeted the country's state-run oil company, Petrobras. Rousseff put off a trip to Washington due to take place and delivered a stinging denunciation of US surveillance from the podium of the UN general assembly in New York last month, minutes before Barack Obama addressed the world from the same spot. |
| While the economic and security fallout from the Snowden spy scandal has yet to crystallise fully, there is no little doubt that the US and Britain's soft power, their ability to build alliances on the claim of moral leadership for example, have suffered a tangible blow. | While the economic and security fallout from the Snowden spy scandal has yet to crystallise fully, there is no little doubt that the US and Britain's soft power, their ability to build alliances on the claim of moral leadership for example, have suffered a tangible blow. |
| Europe | Europe |
| The initial European reaction to the exposure of the US Prism and the British Tempora programmes was muted. | The initial European reaction to the exposure of the US Prism and the British Tempora programmes was muted. |
| With Prism, the NSA had a window on the everyday internet communications of millions of users of the world's biggest email and social media service providers. The Tempora program, meanwhile, allowed Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to tap directly into the backbone of the global internet infrastructure, the transatlantic fibre-optic cables, scooping up phone and internet data of much of the world, including millions of Europeans. | |
| European leaders like François Hollande and Angela Merkel voiced displeasure and unease, but then let the matter drop. The German interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, said he accepted US assurances the spy programs would not affect ordinary citizens. | European leaders like François Hollande and Angela Merkel voiced displeasure and unease, but then let the matter drop. The German interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, said he accepted US assurances the spy programs would not affect ordinary citizens. |
| In the European parliament, however, the revelations lit a slow-burning fire. After two years on the shelf, new regulations on European data protection standards have been revived that could impose multibillion-dollar fines on US internet providers if they transfer European data abroad in contravention to European law, which is far stronger on privacy than its US counterpart. | In the European parliament, however, the revelations lit a slow-burning fire. After two years on the shelf, new regulations on European data protection standards have been revived that could impose multibillion-dollar fines on US internet providers if they transfer European data abroad in contravention to European law, which is far stronger on privacy than its US counterpart. |
| It seems likely the new legislation will further entangle the already fiendishly complicated negotiations over a new transatlantic trade and investment partnership under way between the US and Europe which both sides had been counting on for an economic boost. | It seems likely the new legislation will further entangle the already fiendishly complicated negotiations over a new transatlantic trade and investment partnership under way between the US and Europe which both sides had been counting on for an economic boost. |
| Turkey | Turkey |
| Ankara reacted furiously to the emergence of GCHQ documents that the UK had spied on its finance minister and up to 15 others in the Turkish delegation visiting Britain for G20 meetings in 2009, calling the economic espionage operation against a Nato ally "scandalous". The UK ambassador was summoned and reprimanded, but there has been little sign of fallout since, in part because both countries have more immediate shared concerns over the fate of Syria. However, the fact that GCHQ set up internet cafes at the London summit to spy on foreign diplomats has done nothing to enhance its reputation as a reliable host for international conferences. | Ankara reacted furiously to the emergence of GCHQ documents that the UK had spied on its finance minister and up to 15 others in the Turkish delegation visiting Britain for G20 meetings in 2009, calling the economic espionage operation against a Nato ally "scandalous". The UK ambassador was summoned and reprimanded, but there has been little sign of fallout since, in part because both countries have more immediate shared concerns over the fate of Syria. However, the fact that GCHQ set up internet cafes at the London summit to spy on foreign diplomats has done nothing to enhance its reputation as a reliable host for international conferences. |
| Russia | Russia |
| The news that GCHQ had tapped then President Dmitry Medvedev at the 2009 G20 summit, has done limited long-term harm to the bilateral relationship, but for very different reasons. UK-Russian ties were at such a low ebb already, as a consequence of previous spy rows and a deep rift over Syria, that the Medvedev tapping story caused no perceptible ripples. | The news that GCHQ had tapped then President Dmitry Medvedev at the 2009 G20 summit, has done limited long-term harm to the bilateral relationship, but for very different reasons. UK-Russian ties were at such a low ebb already, as a consequence of previous spy rows and a deep rift over Syria, that the Medvedev tapping story caused no perceptible ripples. |
| Brazil | Brazil |
| Brazil qualifies as the most persistently outraged victim of the western electronic espionage laid bare in the Snowden files. President Rousseff's snub to Obama and withering indictment of US surveillance at the UN general assembly was not just a deep embarrassment for Washington but a significant rift in relations between the biggest economies in the North and South American continents. | Brazil qualifies as the most persistently outraged victim of the western electronic espionage laid bare in the Snowden files. President Rousseff's snub to Obama and withering indictment of US surveillance at the UN general assembly was not just a deep embarrassment for Washington but a significant rift in relations between the biggest economies in the North and South American continents. |
| Rousseff appears determined that there should be real world consequences for the spy scandal. She has called for the construction of a national internet infrastructure in Brazil that would not be so vulnerable to foreign tapping, raising the prospect of fragmentation of the world wide web. | |
| She has also summoned a global meeting on internet governance for next April, aimed at diminishing the US's dominant position as the world's internet hub. | She has also summoned a global meeting on internet governance for next April, aimed at diminishing the US's dominant position as the world's internet hub. |
| As a rising global power, Brazil's leadership has brought others along in its wake. India, which had been muted in its response to the revelations, this week joined the challenge to US-based internet regulating agencies like the non-profit International Cooperation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which governs internet resources such as domain names. | |
| Mexico | |
| Allegations that the NSA hacked the email account of Mexico's then president Felipe Calderon in 2010 prompted an angry response from the current government, which said such actions were unacceptable and violate international law. | |
| Reiterating a call for Washington to conduct an exhaustive investigation of NSA conduct, the Mexican foreign ministry said: "In a relationship between neighbours and partners, there's no room for the practices that allegedly took place." | |
| The German current affairs magazine, Spiegel, reported at the weekend on an operation that was said to have been called Flatliquid and allegedly involved the NSA using a server to gain access to Calderon's account and the Mexican presidential domain used by cabinet members for diplomatic and economic communications. | |
| Citing documents from the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the Spiegel report suggested that the US has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. | |
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