US President Barack Obama denies that the US government is spying on Americans and other people in the world because he “doesn’t call it spying, he calls it mining information,” says Danny Schechter, editor of mediachannel.org.
On Tuesday, Obama denied on a television show that the White House has “a domestic spying program”, describing the National Security agency’s spying programs as “useful” mechanisms that “can track a phone number or an e-mail address that is connected to a terrorist attack.”
“I’m laughing because it seems obvious that the government is saying one thing but it’s also doing something else,” said Schechter in a phone interview with Press TV on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, the New York Times shed more light on the extent of US spying programs, reporting that the NSA is sieving through the contents of Americans’ e-mail and text communications into and out of the country in search for citizens who mention information about foreigners under surveillance.

Documents leaked by American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, have blown the lid on top-secret spying programs run by the US government.

In the wake of the revelations, Washington revoked Snowden’s passport and charged him with espionage and theft of government property.

Schechter said the US government claims that Snowden’s “revelations about how the US government is spying on American public will harm our ability to fight terrorism.”

“But if the NSA could overhear al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri telling his people in Yemen to carry out a terror strike, how could it be that Edward Snowden harmed their ability to monitor such communications. So, none of this really is making sense,” added Schechter.

By Press TV

 

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