The United Nations has questions for AT&T, after a report revealed the telco was helping the U.S. government to spy on it.
"We are looking at this and how best to respond," said a spokesperson for UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. "My understanding is that there will be contacts with AT&T."
A report over the weekend by The New York Times revealed AT&T as one of the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) most willing collaborators, helping it to monitor billions of emails, and all Internet communications at the UN’s headquarters.
The report, based on documents leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden, said AT&T has been particularly cooperative, with NSA staff reminded to be polite when dealing with the telco due to its willingness to help.
"We have seen the report in The New York Times, and obviously, as we’ve said here before, the inviolability of the United Nations is well established under international law, and we expect member states to act accordingly and to respect and protect that inviolability," said the UN on Monday.
The comments were made during a press briefing that was transcribed and published on the UN’s Website.
"The United States authorities had previously given us assurances as to the fact that they…are not monitoring our communications," the spokesperson said, conceding that "surveillance at the United Nations is nothing n ew, unfortunately."
