US, UK spies targeted airline passengers’ mobiles: report

Author: AFP

PARIS: American and British spy agencies have tried to intercept data from passengers’ mobile phones on commercial airlines including Air France, French media has reported, citing documents from US whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The French flag-carrier was an early target of the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart GCHQ as it was seen as a terrorist target and it carried out tests in 2007 on allowing the use of mobile phones on its aircraft.

“The use of mobile phones with internet connections in the sky gave rise to the creation of specific programs at the National Security Agency(NSA) and Government Communications Headquarters(GCHQ),” said Le Monde, which has access to Snowden’s archive in partnership with news website the Intercept.

While it is not normally possible to make phone calls on planes, some carriers allow passengers to connect to a cabin wifi, allowing them to use.

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