Ottawa, March 3 (RHC)-- Information disclosed by the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, Edward Snowden, shows that Canada’s electronic spy agency monitors file downloads all around the world.
According to a joint report by CBC News and journalist Glenn Greenwald, Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE) tracks and analyzes up to 15 million pictures, videos, music documents and other files downloaded by the Internet users across the globe on a daily basis.
The CSE’s spying project called Leviathan tracks downloads from over 102 file-sharing websites, including such renowned sources as Rapidsahre, Sendspace, and the now deactivated Megaupload.
"Every single thing that you do — in this case uploading/downloading files to these sites — that act is being archived, collected and analyzed," said Ron Deibert, an Internet security analyst, after observing Snowden’s files on Canada’s cyber-sleuthing program. The CSE, for its part, defended Leviathan, claiming it is aimed at tracking suspicious activities related to terrorism and extremism.
Canada is a member of the intelligence-sharing network “Five Eyes” (FVEY) along with the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia. Snowden’s revelations showed that even the FVEY members engaged in spying on one another's citizens.
