██ NZ Herald: GCSB collects phone calls, emails and internet data from NZ’s closest and most vulnerable neighbours, secret papers reveal | Read the Intercept’s NZ story here.
Stuff: Diplomatic fallout / Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva: “China is on the radar … so what can we do?”
Rod Emmerson. Snowden revelation on GCSB (NZ Herald 5.3.15)
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How it’s unfolding today…
### NZ Herald Online 6:49 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
#snowdenNZ / How foreign spies access GCSB’s South Pacific
By Nicky Hager, Ryan Gallagher
In September last year, Edward Snowden said he had seen large quantities of metadata from New Zealanders’ communications while working in the NSA’s regional headquarters in Hawaii. He was presumably referring to New Zealanders’ communications intercepted during the Asia-Pacific regional monitoring conducted at Waihopai and other allied bases. The Snowden documents show how foreign intelligence staff follow a step-by-step process to access the GCSB’s South Pacific intelligence, including the metadata and communications of New Zealanders living, holidaying and interacting in that region.
Read more
READ MORE:
● NZ spies on its Pacific friends
● The price of the Five Eyes club
● Join the Twitter debate: #snowdenNZ
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### NZ Herald Online 9:54 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
Snowden revelations: John Key failing leadership test with terrorists-under-the-bed response
By David Fisher – Herald senior reporter
OPINION John Key worked to undermine the spying revelations before he knew what they were. Even before the New Zealand Herald approached his office for comment, he offered a “guarantee” the revelations today would be wrong. Then, exactly like those in the United States, he pulled out the terrorism bogeyman, presumably as some sort of cure-all for allegations of over-reach by our intelligence agencies. […] It should be noted that here in New Zealand, the State Services Commission urged the Government in July 2014 to make more information available to the public. […] There has actually been an improvement here by the actual intelligence agencies but the responses to the Snowden documents from the Prime Minister do not dignify the hard work done by some officials in that area. There should be no doubt that surveillance is necessary. Intelligence is critical. That is not the debate. What has grown in the Five Eyes nations, by stealth, is the extent of that surveillance.
Read more
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EXCLUSIVE: GCSB collects phone calls, emails and internet data from NZ’s closest and most vulnerable neighbours, secret papers reveal
### NZ Herald Online 10:33 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
Snowden GCSB revelations / Nicky Hager accuses New Zealand of selling out its neighbours to US
By David Fisher – Herald senior reporter
New Zealand is “selling out” its close relations with the Pacific nations to be close with the United States, author Nicky Hager has said. Hager, in conjunction with the New Zealand Herald and the Intercept news site, revealed today how New Zealand’s spies are targeting the entire email, phone and social media communications of the country’s closest, friendliest and most vulnerable neighbours. The revelations, based on documents supplied by United States fugitive and whistleblower Edward Snowden, expose a heavy focus on “full-take collection” from the Pacific with nearly two dozen countries around the world targeted by our Government Communications Security Bureau. The Snowden documents show that information from across the Pacific is collected by New Zealand’s GCSB but sent on to the United States’ National Security Agency to plug holes in its global spying network.
Read more
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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 11:40, March 5 2015
Snowden documents: NZ spied on Pacific Island neighbours video
By Aimee Gulliver
New Zealand is spying on its Pacific neighbours, sweeping up all information from the region and passing it to an American spy agency, documents released today show. United States fugitive Edward Snowden worked at the US National Security Agency (NSA) before turning whistleblower in June 2013, releasing documents to the mainstream media showing spy agencies were conducting mass surveillance. Documents released today with NZHerald.co.nz refer to the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Nauru and Samoa as targets of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
Read more + Videos
READ MORE:
● Opinion: NZ right to spy on Pacific Island neighbours
● Diplomat: GCSB must have a really boring job
● Live coverage
● NZ spied on Pacific neighbours – Greenwald
● Nicky Hager: Kiwis will be ‘shocked’ by spy claims
● Q&A – Spying and NZ
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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 11:30, March 5 2015
Snowden leak spying claims spark diplomatic fallout video
By Aimee Gulliver and Michael Field
New Zealand spying on the South Pacific and Tonga is “a breach of trust”, Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva says. Pohiva was “adamant that this is a breach of trust”, the Prime Minister’s Department in Nuku’alofa said this morning. “But it is happening all over the world. Tonga is too small to stand up to the ‘alleged spying’,” Pohiva said through the official. “China is on the radar … so what can we do?”
Earlier today, investigative journalist Nicky Hager said a series of documents leaked to him by the fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden showed New Zealand was spying on its Pacific neighbours to serve American interests and secure its place in a US-led “club”.
Read more + Videos
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
What if? Dunedin... 
RNZ National – Morning Report, Thu 5 Mar 2015
Hager reveals NZ spies on neighbours
The investigative journalist, Nicky Hager says New Zealand is spying on its Pacific neighbours on a scale never seen before.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 ( 6′ 38″ )
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Who’s who (via NZ Herald)
GCSB: The Government Communications Security Bureau. This is New Zealand’s electronic surveillance agency, which is tasked with collecting foreign intelligence. It is New Zealand’s contribution to the Five Eyes network.
Five Eyes: The Five Eyes are made up of the intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Its roots go back to a post-WWII pact between the US and UK, which included three Commonwealth nations. The US is the lead partner – the others, “secondary” partners.
NSA: The United States’ National Security Agency. This is the US electronic surveillance agency and the lead partner in the Five Eyes network.
XKeyscore: An NSA computer program which is able to search through the majority of communications around the globe which have been harvested largely by Five Eyes partners.
Ironsand: Codename for the Waihopai GCSB base, at the top of the South Island in New Zealand. It is a signal intelligence base.
Edward Snowden: The former NSA contractor who walked out in 2012 with a massive number of files, citing concerns about the extent and style of US-led surveillance. He is currently living in exile in Russia.
The Intercept: An online news site, largely led by journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald. It was Greenwald who Snowden approached with his trove of data.
● Nicky Hager is a New Zealand-based investigative journalist and an internationally recognised expert on surveillance since the publication of his ground-breaking book Secret Power in 1996. Ryan Gallagher (@rj_gallagher) is an award-winning Scottish journalist whose work at The Intercept is focused on government surveillance, technology and civil liberties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11411759
### radionz.co.nz Updated at 5:54 am today
RNZ News
Customs seeks to extend powers
Demanding the password to travellers’ cellphones and laptops is just one of the things Customs is asking for to extend their powers. The paper on changes to the Customs Act was released yesterday afternoon.
One of the things Customs want is the explicit power to make people give them the password or encryption key to their electronic device.
Minister for Customs Nicky Wagner said the current Act was passed almost 20 years ago and needed an update. “The current Act, passed in 1996, is based on the 1966 Act and still contains elements of 1913 Act. It’s time to update the Act to ensure Customs can best serve New Zealanders.”
Ms Wagner said it was important for Customs to be able to access electronic devices to stop objectionable material like child pornography and weapons designs from getting into the country. She said the move was not about the mass surveillance of travellers, and that it would likely be a rare occurrence. Public consultation runs until 1 May.
RNZ News Link
How hard is it to change one’s password? I’d have thought it would need to be possible, because of cases where someone has hacked into or borrowed one’s computer or there are other reasons to believe one’s system has become insecure.
Of course John Key swore black and blue that there would be no mass surveillance of Kiwis, in fact a couple of years ago he publicly promised he would resign if the GCSB did so.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11111384
Now it seems that not only was the GCSB doing it all along, taking copies of every phone call to/from an island in the Pacific made by a Kiwi, even while he was making that promise, but he was sending them to his American mates so they could be stored and snooped on at their leisure.
I think it’s time to take John up on his kind offer of resignation, and if he renegs on his promise he should be booted out for lying about the GCSB’s mass surveillance and for breaking his promise.
### ODT Online Thu, 5 Mar 2015
Samoa PM: We have nothing to hide
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has spoken out in support of any monitoring happening in his country, saying Samoa has nothing to hide. Tuilaepa – known for his controversial statements – slammed the media for sensationalising the issue and said those involved in any intelligence service or system reporting back to their governments were well-trained professionals. “Samoa doesn’t have anything to hide. Our daily lives are an open book. We follow good governance principles of transparency and accountability.” NZME
Read more
Dear John…
### NZ Herald Online Updated 1 hour ago 2:35 PM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
Snowden revelations / PM John Key tight-lipped on why spying claims are ‘wrong’
By David Fisher – Herald senior reporter
John Key says new claims around intelligence collection are wrong – but he won’t say why. He also says the GCSB is acting legally – but won’t say how. And he says we are spying – but won’t say on who. The Prime Minister has fronted media after a day of controversy caused by the publication of documents taken by whistleblower Edward Snowden while a contractor for the United States’ National Security Agency. He refused to talk in specifics but said: “Some of the information was incorrect, some of the information was out of date, some of the assumptions made were just plain wrong.”
The documents were published in the Herald today in a collaborative reporting effort with investigative journalist Nicky Hager and the US news site The Intercept, which has access to the Snowden documents. It showed New Zealand’s electronic eavesdropping agency, the GCSB, was moving to “full take collection” of the Pacific in 2009 with a British intelligence document saying by 2012 “we can access both strong selected data and full-take feed” from the GCSB’s Waihopai satellite dish base. […] Documents released today show the electronic eavesdropping agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau, used an online shopping-style system for partner intelligence agencies wanting access to computers which held intercepted email, internet and phone traffic from the Pacific.
Read more + Video
Well we heard from the GCSB’s previous head about why he thinks their mass surveillance of kiwis is legal on Morning Report this morning – it’s because they collect all the information and pass it to the Americans without looking at it – Kafka would be proud!
### radionz.co.nz Friday 6 March 2015
RNZ National – Morning Report with Susie Ferguson & Guyon Espiner
Former GCSB director unfazed by spy revelations
07:19 Government leaders from both Tonga and Samoa say they are not that concerned about the intercepting of their communications.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 ( 7′ 35″ )
Spying on Pacific Islands a grey area
08:11 The former director of the Government Communications Security Bureau has confirmed to Morning Report that there is mass collection of personal communications in the Pacific.
Audio | Download: Ogg MP3 ( 5′ 39″ )
ODT editor dragging his heels with a lot of speech mark emphases. A long preamble to the last sentence.
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### ODT Online Fri, 6 Mar 2015
Editorial: The question of spying
So New Zealand is “spying” on some of our “closest”, “friendliest” and most “vulnerable” neighbours. Those are the emotive words being bandied about in the wake of the supposed “revelations” in documents released by former American National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, the “whistleblower” now living in exile in Russia.
Read more
Kamal Hothi (@kamal_hothi) tweeted at 2:48 PM on Fri, Mar 06, 2015:
All of the Snowden NZ files are up on document cloud now and embedded in a more readable format now in the story. http://t.co/12jkROTmvP
(https://twitter.com/kamal_hothi/status/573661445172240384?s=02)
Tweet:
Morning Report (@NzMorningReport) tweeted at 7:27 AM on Mon, Mar 09, 2015:
.@johnkeypm won’t say whether there is mass surveillance of NZers data. Listen back to @GuyonEspiner with the PM.
http://t.co/KOqPABQs6w
(https://twitter.com/NzMorningReport/status/574637705532846080?s=02)
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### ODT Online Mon, 9 Mar 2015
Key on mass data collection – ‘I don’t know what you mean’
Prime Minister John Key has refused to respond to claims by the former GCSB director of “mass collection” of data on New Zealanders. Mr Key, speaking to Radio New Zealand this morning, said he didn’t understand what former GCSB director Bruce Ferguson meant by the term. NZME
Read more
So before he swore we weren’t being spied on, now he won’t tell us – what changed?
Completely by-the-bye, how many instances of memory “glitches” does it take before a person is given a thorough health check for other signs of dementia?
There are many causes of dementia besides Alzheimers. “Mini strokes” is one of them, small episodes that may not have been noticed by the patient or anyone else at the time.
At ODT Online, brilliant:
Maintaining radio silence
new
Submitted by L8Show on Mon, 09/03/2015 – 9:58am.
[…], or bracketed ellipsis, does not work on radio unless it is spoken as open three dots, close. The description is now ‘systematic monitoring’, rather than mass collection. Over.
Nothing’s changed. It’s just the PM as usual, “running with the hares and hunting with the hounds”. That way he gets to be seen as everybody’s friend, that is until they wake up. As the saying goes, “Oh what tangled webs we weave when once we practice to deceive.”
{The early editions of Marmion use Scott’s original spelling of “practice” (still used in the USA). Later editions, compiled without Scott’s oversight, usually favour the modern standard British English spelling of “practise”. -Eds}
He had another memory issue?
Really I think he’s realised that people are calling him on his promise to resign if there’s mass surveillance, now there’s evidence corroborated by the previous head of the GCSB it’s all “I know nothing ….”
I stand corrected Ed, and the memory ain’t that hot either. Bummer!
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{Your usage of ‘practice’ is still technically correct. -Eds}
### NZ Herald Online 2:14 PM Wednesday Mar 11, 2015
‘Transparency is not an easy matter’ – GCSB director
By Audrey Young – Herald political editor.
The GCSB acting chief, Una Jagose, said the answer to the real tension between her bureau’s need for secrecy and the public’s demand for greater transparency lay in the independent oversight of the agency, New Zealand’s foreign intelligence agency.
The post of Inspector General of Intelligence and Security is held by Cheryl Gwyn, a former deputy Solicitor- General. “She is entitled to and does, come into the bureau at any time and she can look at anything she likes. She can question any of us under oath. She can ask for any document or explanation.”
The job used to be a part-time job held by a retired judge. It is now full-time, with a full-time deputy and five investigators.
Ms Jaose, who was also deputy Solicitor-General before stepping into to Ian Fletcher’s role last week, was appearing before the Intelligence and Security Committee at Parliament ostensibly to discuss the annual report of the Government Communications Security Bureau, alongside Rebecca Kitteridge, who is director of the Security Intelligence Service.
Read more
At his blog, Chris Trotter probes John Key PM’s mastery of the dark arts of “mass deception”. One of our better Kiwi political writers and observers.
Not understood
The Prime Minister doesn’t know what “mass collection” means. This is surprising – given that the Prime Minister has spoken English all his life. http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/not-understood.html?m=1
Perhaps he’s of catholic pursuasion! Or alternatively as a non- catholic he does not understand mass. He’s not a scientist. Anyway mass (doesn’t) matter!
NZ Herald gets to the guts of it, GSCB scooping data on Solomon officials…. this news via Nicky Hager and the Intercept, release of documents. How will our PM respond ???
GCSB spied on Solomon Islands PM’s aides – http://m.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11417445
[updated comment, predictive text said Samoan….]
### ODT Online Tue, 19 May 2015
Editorial: An investigation into integrity
OPINION Intelligence and Security Inspector-general Cheryl Gwyn has started an inquiry into the way the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) undertakes its foreign intelligence activities.
Usually, there would be nothing unusual about the inspector-general undertaking such an inquiry. After all, it is her job. What makes it interesting is the nature of the inquiry. Ms Gwyn initiated the investigation in response to issues recently raised around Trade Minister Tim Groser’s bid to become Director-general of the World Trade Organisation.
Read more
### NZ Herald Online 2:55 PM Saturday May 23, 2015
Leaked documents show NZ and spy partners planned to hack smartphones
By John Weekes
New Zealand and its spying partners exploited weaknesses in one of the world’s most popular mobile browsers and planned to hack into smartphones, according to top secret documents leaked this week. The Five Eyes partners are accused of targeting links to Google and Samsung app stores in a project civil liberties activists have denounced. The spy agencies deliberately sought security vulnerabilities, but failed to inform companies or the public, leaving the private data of millions of people at risk, civil liberties group OpenMedia said today. The leaked Top Secret document was posted on the Canadian CBC News site, in conjunction with The Intercept, after whistleblower and fugitive Edward Snowden acquired it. Apart from discussing how to propagate surveillance software, the newly-revealed document also described efforts to place messages and other communications data on smartphones. NZME
Read more
█ The Intercept: NSA planned to hijack Google App Store to hack smartphones
Big Data Published on Nov 17, 2014
Big Data – “Dangerous (feat. Joywave)” [LYRIC VIDEO] (NSFW)
The internet is a many-splendored thing. It is also the subject of the “Dangerous” lyric video. (NSFW)
Video by SCANTRON and Greg Yagolnitzer.
Tue, 5 Apr 2016
ODT: Hager taking police back to court
Nicky Hager has filed more High Court proceedings against police, less than a month after his last successful court case against them wrapped up. Mr Hager’s legal team today announced that documents released to him by police under the Privacy Act on February 29 allegedly reveal that police also obtained his travel information from airlines.