European spy agencies are best friends. GCHQ documents leaked by Edward Snowden reveal a close partnership between the British  agency and its counterparts in Germany, France, Spain and Sweden to run mass surveillance of internet and telephone traffic. Most of the monitoring is carried out through directly tapping into fibre optic cables as well as by secretly becoming chummy with telecommunications companies.

Snowden’s files show that GCHQ advised its European colleagues in how to avoid national laws that placed restrictions on snooping. This news shows the hypocrisy of European governments, especially Germany, where Angela Merkel has been spouting venom about her phone calls being monitored by the NSA. Birds of a feather.

A full report on this has been published by The Guardian, and includes GCHQ’s praise for the “capabilities” of German and French intelligence agencies.

Looks like it is both cooperation and competition in the world of spying. It is a pity that freedom and the average citizen have to bear the brunt of this “friendship”.