Western countries spying on you too, people concerned about next celebrity baby

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has reportedly told a cryptography expert and documentary filmmaker that the U.S. is working with several Western nations to collect vast amounts of data and to intercept communications from around the world.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Snowden gave an interview using encrypted emails before his revelations to the Guardian became public, to U.S. Cryptology expert, Jacob Applebaum, and filmmaker Laura Poitras. In those emails, Snowden revealed that the NSA is working closely with both Germany and "most other Western states" to intercept communications from the Middle East and other regions.

The latest bombshell suggests that governments around the world, particularly close U.S. allies, are cooperating and actively participating in mass-data collection, spying on their own citizens and those of other countries.

Publicly, leaders of many Western nations are decrying the secret NSA program, but privately they're participating in it too.

This is wrong for nations that proclaim themselves to be paragons of freedom.

Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes have been accused of high-tech spying on their own citizens by various means since the days of the Cold War. It's ironic to see the high-tech spying being a cornerstone of domestic intelligence efforts in nations where constitutions protect the right to privacy.

Now, Europeans, some who have publicly blasted Obama and the United States, may themselves be just as guilty as the U.S. in participating in domestic mass-surveillance.

Meanwhile, Snowden is reportedly still waiting in an airport terminal in Moscow for asylum in another country. Allegedly, he has been offered asylum from at least three Latin American countries including Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, Brazil has said it will not respond to his request and France, among others, has declined. Intriguingly, France may be one of the countries spying on its own people.

Where Snowden will go remains to be seen, whoever the impact of his revelations are being widely felt and will continue to send shock waves through the international community.

At this time, despite the news, America is awaiting word of the coming child of Princess Kate and Prince William, and pictures of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's baby.

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