14 DAY TRIAL // The NSA and the US authorities keep saying that all the agency does is seek for threats to the security of the country and its allies by tracking down threats among the billions communications issued online each day.
New revelations based on documents from the Snowden stash indicate this can’t be further from the truth as the NSA reportedly targeted Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras.
Globo TV, one of the biggest television networks in Brazil, reported that the NSA was spying on Petroleo Brasileiro SA. The information came from Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who was given access to thousands of documents from Edward Snowden.
The television aired slides from yet another NSA presentation. This one was dated from 2012 and it revealed the agency’s ability to gain access to private networks of companies such as Petrobras and Google Inc.
The reasons for the spying specified in the slides were “economic,” “diplomatic” and “political.” The information was apparently shared with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The NSA replied quite quickly, saying the US government only collects economic and financial information as part of an effort to prevent crisis that could affect international markets.
The new revelations put the relationship between the US and Brazil in an even tighter spot. Last week, it was revealed that the NSA had been spying on Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto.
This has led to some diplomatic issues between the two countries and the United States, complete with the summoning of the US ambassadors. Dilma Rousseff, who is scheduled to visit Washington in October is not even sure she’ll go through with the meeting in the current circumstances.
Obama tried to reassure the two presidents that they’ll work to settle the dispute, following a G20 meeting last Friday.