US National Security Agency (NSA) is the world’s largest spy organization.<\/p>\n
US President Barack Obama has come under growing criticism over the country\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s massive electronic surveillance bids across America and Europe as European leaders demand more details on the spying efforts from the US government.\n<\/p>\n
Describing themselves as \u00c5\u201cstunned\u201d over recent revelations of an extensive US surveillance program that included European citizens, top officials in Europe said Monday they would ask Washington for more information on the issue and discuss measures to further boost their already rigorous privacy laws, The Washington Post<\/i> reports Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n The disappointment expressed by European authorities, the report says, pointed to the extent of the \u00c5\u201cfallout from the affair and to the potential for fresh strains between the United States and allies wary of American intrusiveness.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to the report, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed through a spokesman to raise the issue when she meets Obama in Berlin next week.<\/p>\n This is while other German officials have expressed concerns about the evident monitoring of their citizens by the huge American electronic surveillance measures that extends to Europe and other countries.\n<\/p>\n Senior European Union authorities have further vowed to express their concerns over the issue during their bilateral meeting with US officials this week.\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Britain, where the nation\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s intelligence agencies have long maintained strong cooperation with their US counterparts, \u00c5\u201ca top official tried Monday to limit potential uproar, telling Parliament that the partnership had not been used to circumvent British laws,\u201d the daily adds.\n<\/p>\n Furthermore, Viviane Reding, a European Commission vice president, plans to raise issues related to the NSA surveillance program during her Thursday meetings with US authorities, a spokeswoman is cited as saying.\n<\/p>\n \u00c5\u201cA clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury or constraint but a fundamental right,\u201d Reding reportedly said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n Despite the rising concerns, US officials continue to defend the massive surveillance bid on ordinary citizens. Asked Monday about concerns raised by European leaders, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Obama \u00c5\u201cbelieves when it comes to Section 702, which the director of national intelligence has discussed in some detail, that it\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s entirely appropriate for a program to exist to look at, you know, foreign data and potential foreign terrorists.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Carney was referring to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requiring the US government \u00c5\u201cto seek approval from a secret national security court to obtain the records of private citizens from communications companies,\u201d the report notes.\n<\/p>\n The PRISM surveillance program, parts of which were described in the past week by The Washington Post<\/i> and UK-based Guardian<\/i> newspaper, demonstrates that US spy agencies now have the power \u00c5\u201cto vacuum up data about telecommunications traffic across the world.\u201d\n<\/p>\n An apparent snapshot from an NSA \u00c5\u201cBoundless Informant database\u201d published on the Guardian\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s<\/i> Web site showed that in March 2013, foreign intelligence gathering by the US was primarily focused on the Middle East. For that month, more pieces of intelligence were gathered in Germany than anywhere else in Europe.\n<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a group of American rights activists have staged a protest rally in Washington, calling for an end to US government\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s surveillance programs and expressing support for former CIA computer technician Edward Snowden who recently exposed the expansive spying measures on tens of millions US citizens.\n<\/p>\n MFB\/MFB
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