AUCKLAND, New Zealand—The New Zealand spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), worked in 2012 and 2013 to implement a mass metadata surveillance system even as top government officials publicly insisted no such program was being planned and would not be legally permitted.

Documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show that the government worked in secret to exploit a new internet surveillance law enacted in the wake of revelations of illegal domestic spying to initiate a new metadata collection program that appeared designed to collect information about the communications of New Zealanders. Those actions are in direct conflict with the assurances given to the public by Prime Minister John Key (pictured above), who said the law was merely designed to fix “an ambiguous legal framework” by expressly allowing the agency to do what it had done for years, that it “isn’t and will never be wholesale spying on New Zealanders,” and the law “isn’t a revolution in the way New Zealand conducts its intelligence operations.”

Turns out America isn't the only snooping country... in fact I would bet that pretty much every country that can afford one has a program like this in place. It's almost silly not to. Easier to ask forgiveness than permission and all of that.

But now we'll see if all of that righteous indignation that was hurled at America will be equally hurled at the kiwis... you know, because it wasn't America bashing, it was just outrage at the actions.

In fact, we've now shown that kiwis have lots of guns AND are spying on their citizens... both things America catches endless grief for.

The internet snooping is just a continuation of Signals interception since WWII.

Say the US can't spy on it's own people, so Canada does it, and viceversa, then they trade results.

Same for all the 5 eyes partner's results. Now it's "legal" but contrived.

I just read an interesting Wired interview with Snowden where he said the Intel was shared with Israel too.

OrangeDragon wrote:..In fact, we've now shown that kiwis have lots of guns AND are spying on their citizens... both things America catches endless grief for.

"We've"..??
The US doesn't cop grief for having lots of guns, it cops grief for the murderous gun culture that is so pervasive and ingrained in the American psyche.

As for 'spying', who cares about that so much; I live in NZ and in no way have/are my freedoms compromised. The biggest disappointment for me is that our govt's agencies are butt lickers when it comes to liaisons with the US.

Dr Anik wrote:

OrangeDragon wrote:..In fact, we've now shown that kiwis have lots of guns AND are spying on their citizens... both things America catches endless grief for.

"We've"..??
The US doesn't cop grief for having lots of guns, it cops grief for the murderous gun culture that is so pervasive and ingrained in the American psyche.

As for 'spying', who cares about that so much; I live in NZ and in no way have/are my freedoms compromised. The biggest disappointment for me is that our govt's agencies are butt lickers when it comes to liaisons with the US.

The most common bit of grief we cop regarding guns is the number/person.

Dr Anik wrote:

OrangeDragon wrote:..In fact, we've now shown that kiwis have lots of guns AND are spying on their citizens... both things America catches endless grief for.

"We've"..??
The US doesn't cop grief for having lots of guns, it cops grief for the murderous gun culture that is so pervasive and ingrained in the American psyche.

As for 'spying', who cares about that so much; I live in NZ and in no way have/are my freedoms compromised. The biggest disappointment for me is that our govt's agencies are butt lickers when it comes to liaisons with the US.

Dude I know cause us Americans like to stuff people we murdered on our walls cause the 2nd amendment says we can.

"Gun Control": The ability to accurately hit what you are aiming at."

Snowden took 1.7 million documents with him when he jumped to the home of freedom - Mother Russia, yet he could not produce even one to back up his claims regarding NZ.

Assange (wiki leaks) has 250,000 cable communications yet he could not produce one to back up his claims regarding NZ.

Both appeared via video link ( at a much hyped "party" in our biggest city ) courtesy of Kim Dotcom (Megaupload), who is facing extradition from NZ to the USA to face charges of copyright violation, money laundering and a whole list of other bad sounding shit.

KDC does not like our Prime Minister to the point of starting a political party to try and remove the (mildly) right leaning Goverment and put in place politicans that he presumably thinks will be more willing to defy the extradition agreement we have with the USA.

Combine this with the the fact that the "party" is timed 5 days out from the General Election and that the issues these gentlemen were talking about have been tallked about for at least the last couple of years, and a cynic (such as myself) would have to think that what we really have here is 3 foreigners trying to interfer with our political process.

That being my opinion I would like to tell Edward, Julian and Kim to fuck right off.

As an aside - Dotcom has been hyping this "party" for the last 6 months using terms such as "the moment of truth" and promising to reveal information that would " bring down the Prime Minister". From reading the political pundits today and the press ( a lot of which have been openly sycophantic towards his big German arse in the past) it seems that this has been all one big FAIL.

If anything he has got people angry enough to not be apathetic and get out and vote. Polls are showing the main ruling party will probaly be able to govern alone which is unusual in a MMP system such as we have in NZ.

Edited to remove stuff.

Singularian wrote:As an aside - Dotcom has been hyping this "party" for the last 6 months using terms such as "the moment of truth" and promising to reveal information that would " bring down the Prime Minister". From reading the political pundits today and the press ( a lot of which have been openly sycophantic towards his big German arse in the past) it seems that this has been all one big FAIL.

Assange used to brag about his "ace in the hole" also. Some bit of stolen, classified information that would bring down the US or the president or whatever. All b.s., apparently.

Kim Dotcom is single again, and this is what he's missing...

..Mona Dotcom, boxer..

Mona Dotcom could be about to get physical in the boxing ring - as long as she finds someone to fight.

The petite 26-year-old was today being touted by organiser Duco Events as one possibility for the December Fight for Life event in Hamilton.

Dotcom was married to Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom, but separated from the German millionaire earlier this year.

Duco Events spokesman David Higgins said his organisation had confirmed Dotcom was interested in taking part in Fight for Life and had made contact.

"We just heard she might be interested and through an intermediary it was confirmed she was,'' Higgins said.

''We haven't put any formal offer forward yet. There are some other options we are looking at as well."

Higgins said Fight for Life needed to put forward the best line-up for each event and if Dotcom wasn't boxing this December it was possible she would be involved in an event next year.

They would also need to think of a suitable opponent for her.

"They need to be of a similar height and weight and with no boxing experience. They need to be a household name."

Higgins said many without boxing experience committed to the event because of the challenge and the training involved, as well as the fee which varied depending on the boxer.

He couldn't comment on how much an average fee was.

Professional boxer Joseph Parker would headline the Fight for Life in Hamilton on December 6 and at an announcement in Auckland today, where former All Black Carlos Spencer was confirmed as the main undercard bout to take on Monty Betham, Duco Events said they would be announcing "something very big" tomorrow for the night's lineup.

duh- that is where they tested echelon in the 1980's

i love this news that comes out decades after the facts that most of us have known all along.