Severed cables. Photograph by Pascal Charest
Brazil are seeking to bypass the US and install an undersea cable directly to Europe to avoid the prying eyes of the NSA according to reports.
Brazil is looking to run an undersea cable directly to the Spanish coast, rerouting the country’s internet traffic that currently passes through Miami, Florida.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is in Brussels for the annual EU-Brazil summit, and has pressed EU ministers to progress with cable project which will cost $185 million and is due to begin construction in July.
Both Brazil and Europe have been burned by the NSA spying revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden, with the US spy agency reportedly hacking into communications at the Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras, as well as in Rousseff’s email account and tapping German chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.
Whilst Obama has imposed a ban on surveilling the leaders of allies after the Snowden revelations, relations with many other countries have become strained, with leaders believing the US to be spying for commercial purposes such as industrial espionage rather than simply national security.
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The internet should be taken out of US hands.