Edward Snowden Ecuador Spying Press Asylum - Business Insider

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Anti-surveillance hero Edward Snowden ironically wants to take shelter in a country with a terrible surveillance record: Ecuador.

The 30-year-old former Booz Allen contractor, thought to be in Moscow after leaking top secret documents on domestic spying conducted by the NSA, has petitioned for asylum in the South American country that also sheltered Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Secret documents obtained by Rosie Gray at BuzzFeed indicate Ecuador has a record of spying on social media, targeting of political opponents and journalists, and innovation in facial recognition, as well as the recent purchase of?a "GSM Interceptor" by SENAIN, Ecuador's intelligence service.

Gray writes:

In a letter to Pablo Romero last year in June, a Smart Solutions representative named Gabriel Guecelevich touted the capabilities of the GSM system, promising the ability to ?copy SIM cards, identify phone calls, route phone calls to different places, intercept text messages, falsify and modify the text messages, keep messages in their system, disconnect calls, block phone calls, system should be able to intercept a minimum of 4 phone calls simultaneously.?

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Guecelevich also specified that the GSM system, which has previously been mentioned in WikiLeaks files as a spy tool, can be used from a car that is 250 meters away and that it is portable. Guecelevich explained which tests Smart Solutions can run to prove that the system works. The first system, he wrote, is intercepting technology; the second is a passive system that can intercept GSM communication which Guecelevich promised can process 32 channels simultaneously, record conversations, among other capabilities.

It's not only domestic spying problems, either. From CBS News:

[Ecuador] ranks 119th out of 179 countries on Reporter Without Borders'?Press Freedom Index, and Human Rights Watch?says?"President Rafael Correa has undercut freedom of the press in Ecuador by subjecting journalists and media figures to public denunciation and retaliatory litigation."

Before Snowden can get there, he has other serious hurdles. He's currently in Russia ? likely having a chat with their intelligence agents ? and without a valid U.S. passport, his travel plans are temporarily halted.

But even given the ability to leave Russia for Ecuador ? he faces stiff opposition from business leaders, who see a potential threat to the?40 percent of exports purchased by the United States.

With a trade deal expiring at the end of July, the U.S. has serious leverage of?$9 billion per year.

"What would we gain from giving political asylum to Snowden ? confirming Ecuador's international image as an anti-imperialist country?" the?head of the Ecuadorian Business Committee, Roberto Aspiazu, told AFP. "I?don't think we need that."

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/edward-snowden-ecuador-spying-press-asylum-2013-6

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