Italy presses Kerry over U.S. surveillance -source

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Italy presses Kerry over U.S. surveillance -source

ROME | Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:52am EDT

(Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry promised on Wednesday that U.S. authorities would look into whether their intelligence services may have illegally intercepted Italian telecoms data, an Italian government source said.

Kerry met Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta during a visit to Rome, where he faced fresh questions about mass spying on European allies after revelations by Edward Snowden, the former U.S. intelligence operative granted asylum in Russia.

"The question was brought up to verify reports about possible violations of privacy rules," a source in the Italian prime minister's office said following the meeting.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/23/us-italy-us-security-idUSBRE99M0LF20131023

[ehcross]

1. US possible violations of privacy rules against Italy

Italy has now joined the group of countries that are pointing a finger at the U.S. for "possible violations of privacy rules". Secretary of State John Kerry has had a busy schedule comfronting the same accusation as other countries in Latin America.

This situation was brought about by revelations made by former NSA technician Edward Snowden, now a guest of Vladimir Putin in Russia, about the U.S. practice of sweeping for intelligence across the world for hints of threats to its national security.

The italian complaint adds to others like Brazil and Mexico.

Though such complaints have a solid base, though not supported by international legislation, it is a fact that this practice has existed since memorable times, and it probably will continue until each country finds ways to selectively block their signals to specific countries, now unexistent.