A new US National Security Agency document published by the Washington Post shows that South Africa was one of the countries authorised for surveillance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exhibit lists the 193 foreign governments as well as foreign factions, political organisations, and other entities that were part of a 2010 certification approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,\u201d the Washington Post reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the entities about which the NSA may conduct surveillance, for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The certification also let the agency gather intelligence about entities such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, European Union, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the report said.<\/p>\n
It further stressed that the NSA did not necessarily target nearly all countries, but had authorisation to do so.<\/p>\n
Sapa-AFP reported that the US has a no-spying arrangement with four countries \u2013 Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, quoting Washington Post.<\/p>\n
The certification also let the agency gather intelligence about entities including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese documents show both the potential scope of the government\u2019s surveillance activities and the exceedingly modest role the court plays in overseeing them,\u201d Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union who had the documents described to him, told the Post.<\/p>\n
Last month Vodacom’s parent company, Vodafone, published a \u201cDisclosure Report\u201d which said that, while in many of the 29 countries in which it operates government agencies need legal notices to tap into customers\u2019 communications, there are some instances where this is not the case.<\/p>\n