EPIDEMIC

Even New Zealand Is Spying on Its People

Snowden: PM lied about mass surveillance.

(In)famous hacker and former NSA worker Edward Snowden has leaked a new series of document, accusing the New Zealand Prime Minister of deceiving the public about his country's mass surveillance program. Snowden claims that Prime Minister John Key falsely claimed New Zealand did not have a mass surveillance program, even though the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) worked in 2012 and 2013 on establishing one that exploited metadata. “The GCSB provides to the communications of millions of New Zealanders to the NSA at facilities such as the GCSB facility in Waihopai, and the Prime Minister is personally aware of this fact,” said Snowden. In 2013, New Zealand passed a somewhat controversial domestic spying law, but it “isn’t a revolution in the way New Zealand conducts its intelligence operations,” said Key.