Snowden makes it quite clear that no one in New Zealand is safe from the GCSB's or NSA's spying practices

Sep 15, 2014 11:24 GMT  ·  By

New Zealand’s government has been denying that any kind of surveillance is performed on its citizens, even though evidence states the contrary, including classified documents from the NSA. Edward Snowden himself has taken it upon himself to stand up and clarify the situation.

“Let me be clear: any statement that mass surveillance is not performed in New Zealand, or that the internet communications are not comprehensively intercepted and monitored, or that this is not intentionally and actively abetted by the GCSB, is categorically false. If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched,” Snowden wrote in a piece that was published by The Intercept.

The whistleblower is stating in no uncertain terms that the situation is not as pink as the New Zealand government may want its citizens to think, and his statement includes the truth about the surveillance bill they passed last year despite heavy protests.

At the time, Prime Minister John Key said left and right that the bill only sought to protect citizens and didn’t give the government any additional powers to spy on people. That claim has been rebuffed several times over by specialists and there was even an online petition seeking to put an end to the bill, but neither did any good.

Documents from Snowden’s trove indicate that the NSA was waiting for the New Zealand to pass the new law and to provide the first batches of metadata under the new state powers.

Of course, the data collection has actually been happening for a lot longer. Snowden says that back when he was still a contractor for the NSA, within the XKEYSCORE program he could look for communications of New Zealanders.

“It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individual’s private email, text messages, and Internet traffic,” he explains, adding that he knows this because it was his full-time job back in Hawaii.

Snowden accuses the GCSB of being directly involved in the untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via Internet, satellite, radio, and phone networks.

A single checkbox stands between basic rights and lost liberty

The former NSA contractor mentions a checkbox within the XKEYSCORE system called “Five Eyes Defeat,” which is an optional filter that allows analysts to prevent search results from being returned on the countries members of the pact – US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

“Ask yourself: why do analysts have a checkbox on a top secret system that hides the results of mass surveillance in New Zealand if there is no mass surveillance in New Zealand?” Snowden asks.

The whistleblower points out that the GCSB has the ability to see every website you visit, every message you send, call you make, ticket you purchase, donation you make, or book ordered online. “Your words are intercepted, stored, and analyzed by algorithms long before they’re ever read by your intended recipient.”

The article written by Snowden comes ahead of the September 20 elections in New Zealand, and he urges people, no matter who they vote for, to keep in mind that they have a chance to send a message to their government and remind them that the liberties of free people cannot be changed behind closed doors.