14 DAY TRIAL // The New Zealand prime minister is fairly certain that Edward Snowden has a bunch of files on the country’s intelligence services.
At a press conference, John Key admitted that it is quite likely that Snowden has information on New Zealand’s spying operations. Considering that the Five Eyes state members have been targeted by new reports, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and, most recently, Australia, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before New Zealand data becomes public.
The prime minister points out that Snowden has a massive amount of data and since New Zealand is part of the Five Eyes, it’s highly likely there’s also some data on the country.
“I’m not going to go through all the details of what I might or might not know. But I’m comfortable with the way our agencies operate and I’m comfortable they’re not breaking the law,” Key said.
Considering the New Zealand government passed the GCSB bill earlier this year, it’s highly likely that most of what the agency does now is considered “legal.”
According to the bill that was protested against by thousands of people, the GCSB will have three functions. Firstly, it will continue to collect foreign intelligence, but it will not be allowed to spy on New Zealanders under this function. Secondly, it will be allowed to spy on New Zealanders, with a warrant, in an effort to assist the SIS< the police and Defence.
Thirdly, the GCSB’s cyber-security function will expand from protecting Government communications from attacks, to private-sector cyber systems.
The second part is the most controverted of all, especially since it has been revealed on a number of times that the authorities conducted unwarranted surveillance. Now, by saying it was helping out another law enforcement agency, the GCSB would have the space necessary to keep doing this, without breaking the law. One example is the surveillance of Internet mogul Kim Dotcom that New Zealand admitted was illegal.