Spy agencies mining phone data

Leaked files say NSA, GCHQ obtain user info from apps such as Angry Birds

Documents leaked by former NSA contactor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies have a powerful ally in Angry Birds and a host of other apps installed on smartphones across the globe.

The documents, published on Monday by The New York Times, The Guardian, and ProPublica, suggest that the mapping, gaming, and social networking apps that are a common feature of the world's estimated 1 billion smartphones can feed the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, with huge amounts of personal data, including location information and details such as political affiliation and sexual orientation.

The size and scope of the program aren't publicly known, but the reports suggest that US and British intelligence easily get routine access to data generated by apps such as the Angry Birds game franchise or the Google Maps navigation service.

The joint spying program "effectively means that anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system," one 2008 document from the British eavesdropping agency is quoted as saying.

Another document - a hand-drawn picture of a smirking fairy conjuring up a tottering pile of papers over a table marked "LEAVE TRAFFIC HERE" - suggests that gathering the data doesn't take much effort.

The NSA did not directly comment on the reports but said in a statement on Monday that the communications of those who were not "valid foreign intelligence targets" were not of interest to the spy agency.

"Any implication that NSA's foreign intelligence collection is focused on the smartphone or social media communications of everyday Americans is not true," the statement said. "We collect only those communications that we are authorized by law to collect for valid foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes - regardless of the technical means used by the targets."

Intelligence agencies' interest in cellphones and the networks they run on has been documented in several of Snowden's previous disclosures, but the focus on apps shows how everyday, innocuous-looking pieces of software can be turned into instruments of espionage.

Angry Birds, an addictive birds-versus-pigs game, which has been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times worldwide, was one of the most eye-catching examples. The Times and ProPublica said a 2012 British intelligence report laid out how to extract Angry Birds users' information from phones running the Android operating system.

AP - Reuters

A supporter of Edward Snowden walks past a poster declaring him a "hero" in Washington in October. The US National Security Agency and its British counterpart are tapping into smartphone applications to scoop up personal data, the New York Times reported on Monday. Mandel Ngan / Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 01/29/2014 page12)