MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil demands an explanation from the US regarding electronic surveillance of its citizens and companies

Patriota said Brazil will propose changes to international communications rules administered by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union

Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over reports its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by US spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday.

Patriota's remarks were in response to a report published by O’Globo saying that the US National Security Agency has been monitoring the telephone and e-mail activity of Brazilian companies and individuals as part of US espionage activities.

The report cited documents obtained from US fugitive Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor.

Patriota also said his government plans to propose changes to international communications rules administered by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union to improve communications secrecy, the statement said. Brazil also plans to present proposals to the United Nations to protect the privacy of electronic communication.

“The Brazilian government is gravely concerned by the news that electronic and telephone communications of Brazilian citizens are the objective of espionage efforts by US intelligence agencies,” a foreign ministry statement said.

The Globo report did not say how much traffic was monitored by NSA computers and intelligence officials. But the article pointed out that in the Americas Brazil was second only to the United States in the number of transmissions intercepted.

Brazil was a priority nation for the NSA communications surveillance alongside China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan, said O’Globo.

In the 10-year period, the NSA captured 2.3 billion phone calls and messages in the United States and then used computers to analyze them for signs of suspicious activity, the paper said. In the United States, the NSA used legal but secret warrants to compel communications companies to turn over information about calls and emails for analysis.

Some access to Brazilian communications was obtained through American companies that were partners with Brazilian telecommunications companies, the paper reported, without identifying the companies.

The O’Globo article was credited to Glenn Greenwald, Roberto Katz and Jose Casado. Grenwald who works for The Guardian and lives in Rio do Janeiro was the first journalist to reveal the classified documents supplied by Edward Snowden, the NSA ‘leaker’ who the US has accused of espionage.

Allegedly after delivering the information to Greenwald, Snowden escaped to Hong Kong and is currently in the transit area of Moscow’s airport. Snowden’s passport has been revoked. He has made asylum requests to several countries, including Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia. Three countries - Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua - have offered to give Snowden asylum