‘Revealed: how UK spied on its G20 allies at London summits’

Published on 17 June 2013 at 08:24

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British authorities spied on other countries' leaders and officials “by attacking both the computers and the telephones of delegates” at 2009’s G20 meetings in London, The Guardian reveals as part of its investigation into top secret British and American surveillance programs.

According to the documents, top UK officials authorised the use of sophisticated spying capabilities to monitor the communications of guests, including setting up internet cafes to intercept emails and monitor online activity, tapping into BlackBerry communications, supplying analysts with ongoing evidence “of who was phoning who at the summit”, and specifically targetting Turkish and Russian officials.

The daily notes its revelation “is likely to lead to some tension” at the G8 summit that begins in Northern Ireland on Monday, all of whose guests were potential targets at the 2009 summits.

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