Journalist
who first reported on Edward Snowden revelations for the Guardian says
Australia is ‘probably the country that has gotten away with things the most’
Australia
is one of the most aggressive countries in the world in terms of mass
surveillance and its techniques could be the subject of future leaks,
journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported on the Edward Snowden revelations
for the Guardian, has said.
Greenwald,
who now works for The Intercept, told ABC’s Lateline program on Thursday night
that Australia is “probably the country that has gotten away with things the
most in terms of the Snowden revelations”.
“Australia
is one of the most aggressive countries that engage in mass surveillance as a
member of the Five Eyes partnership,” he said, referring to a security sharing
arrangement between the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New
Zealand and Canada.
“There
has been less reporting on Australia than the other four countries. We intend
to change that. There are interesting documents about what Australia is doing
to privacy rights – not just to their own citizens,” Greenwald said.
“We
are working on the reporting,” he continued. “We will definitely get that done
as soon as we can.”
New
Australian laws ushered in last year could see journalists
jailed for up to 10 years if they reveal details of special
intelligence operations. The changes to the Asio Act have been roundly
criticised by Australian news outlets.
Greenwald
criticised Australian politicians for overstating the terror threat.
“If
you are an Australian citizen, you are more likely to die by being struck by
lightning or by going out to dinner tonight and contracting a fatal intestinal
illness than dying in a terrorism attack,” the journalist said. “When I watch
both parties in Australia exploit terrorism fears, it’s a very familiar
dynamic.”
On
Tuesday, the US
Senate voted comprehensively to end the bulk data collection of phone
records, a move Greenwald praised.
“Thankfully,
in the United States we seem finally to be realising that this has gone on way
too long, it has eroded our freedoms too much, but Australia is going in the
other direction sadly.”
Earlier
this month, National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden spoke via
videolink at an Australian conference, where he criticised the country’s data
retention laws. New national security laws mandate that telecommunications
companies retain users’ data for two years.
“They
are watching everybody all the time. They’re collecting information and they’re
just putting it in piles that they can then search through, not only locally,
not only within Australia, but they can then share this with foreign
intelligence services,” Snowden told the conference.
Photo:
Greenwald, who now works for The Intercept, told ABC’s Lateline, ‘There has
been less reporting on Australia than the other four countries. We intend to
change that.’ Photograph: Jimmy Chalk
The
Guardian
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