National

Spies zero in on file-sharing services as part of terrorist hunt: CBC

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Jan, 2015 11:18 AM

OTTAWA — A new report says Canada's electronic spy agency sifts through millions of videos and documents downloaded every day through file-sharing services as part of its bid to find terrorists.

CBC News says details of the Communications Security Establishment project, called Levitation, are revealed in a 2012 PowerPoint presentation obtained by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

CBC analyzed the document with U.S. news website The Intercept, which obtained it from Snowden.

The document says that under Levitation, CSE analysts can access information on about 10 to 15 million uploads and downloads of files from free websites each day.

CSE says it takes strict measures to protect the privacy of Canadians.

The Ottawa-based spy service employs mathematicians, codebreakers, linguists and software experts with the aim of both collecting foreign secrets and shielding Canada's confidences from prying eyes.

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