美國國安局被指30天收集1240億份電話數據

The National Security Agency monitored nearly 125 billion phone calls in just one month, according to a number of new reports.

And while the majority of calls reportedly originated in the Middle East, an estimated 3 billion of the calls originated in the U.S.

According to a collection of the reports and leaked classified government files, the monitored calls took place throughout the month of January 2013 and tallied to 124.8 billion.

Cryptome, a site that posts government and corporate documents, combined the various documents and says the largest share of calls originated in Afghanistan (21.98 billion) and Pakistan (12.76 billion). Elsewhere in the Middle East, billions of calls were monitored in Iraq (7.8 billion), Saudi Arabia (7.8 billion), Egypt (1.9 billion), Iran (1.73 billion) and Jordan (1.6 billion).

So, if true, how did the U.S. successfully intercept so many phone calls from around the world? Another document posted by Cryptome on Wednesday purports to show a graph released by the NSA’s PRISM program. The graph explains that many “target” international calls pass through U.S. carriers because they are less expensive. “A target’s phone call, email or chat will take the cheapest path, not the physically most direct route,” the graph explains. “You can’t always predict the path. Your target’s communication could easily be flowing into and through the U.S.”

On Wednesday, the White House denied claims that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calls from her personal cellphone were among 361 million calls in Germany that were reportedly monitored during the same period.

Merkel reportedly personally “quizzed” President Barack Obama about the allegation during a recent phone conversation between the two.

"The President assured the Chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of Chancellor Merkel," White House press secretary Jay Carney said in response.

The Merkel spying allegation comes on the heels of a Sunday report from Cryptome, which says the U.S. also spied on calls made by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Also on Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied a report in Le Monde, which said the NSA has spied on 70 million phone calls originating in France.

“The allegation that the National Security Agency collected more than 70 million ‘recordings of French citizens' telephone data’ is false,” Clapper said in a statement.

“While we are not going to discuss the details of our activities, we have repeatedly made it clear that the United States gathers intelligence of the type gathered by all nations. The U.S. collects intelligence to protect the nation, its interests, and its allies from, among other things, threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

India was the other country listed with more than a billion calls monitored (6.28 billion). In a September report, the Hindu newspaper said information provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shows the calls were intercepted using the PRISM and Boundless Informant programs.據外媒10月23日報道，西方多家新聞機構近日連續報道美國國家安全局（NSA）在全球範圍內進行電話監聽，稱，今年早些時候美國國安局在短短30天的時間裏就攔截記錄了超過1240億份電話通訊數據。

美國國安局一個名爲“無限線人”（Boundless Informant）項目“允許用戶在地圖上隨意選擇一個目標國家，瀏覽元數據卷，然後選取關於這個國家被收集數據的細節內容。”《衛報》等媒體公佈的文件顯示，美國國安局利用“無限線人”項目今年初僅僅30天就在世界多國收集了1240億次電話通訊。

其中，許多數據來自大中東地區：從巴基斯坦和阿富汗通信網絡中獲取的信息數量最多，分別爲137.6億和219.8億份；大約17.3億份“撥號記錄”來自伊朗，另有16.4億份電話通訊記錄可追溯至約旦。此外，美國國安局還從印度的通信網絡中收集了62.8億份信息。

分析人士認爲，雖然美國國安局可能從所收集的電話通訊數據中挑選出有價值的情報，但鑑於收集數據的數量實在過於龐大，所以他們審查所有內容的可能性不大。“儘管如此，”《衛報》稱，“這些文件仍然提供了一個窗口，讓外界得以窺見美國國安局截止至今年3月究竟收集了多少信息。”

與美國保持友好關係的西方國家也被美國國安局列入電話和計算機通訊數據的收集目標。根據德國《明鏡》週刊披露的文件，在短短30天的時間內，“無限線人”系統收集了大量源自德國的電話通訊記錄。而西班牙和意大利則分別被收集6100萬和4600萬份信息。

本週，法國《世界報》也報道稱，今年1月，該國超過7000萬份電話通訊數據被美國國安局攔截記錄。不過，美國國家情報總監詹姆斯·克拉珀隨即否認了《世界報》的上述指控。