NSA Trouble: France Upset Over Phone Spying

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has called the alleged spying practices “totally unacceptable.” A report in Le Monde newspaper which was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden suggests that over 70 million French citizens’ phone conversations were being recorded.

The American ambassador to France has been summoned by the French government to give an explanation for the report that the National Security Agency had access to phone calls over a 30 day period.

The report alleges that when certain numbers were dialed, the conversations were automatically recorded. The surveillance operation also had access to text messages based on key words, Le Monde reported, based on records dated from Dec. 10 to Jan 7. Similar programs have been revealed in Britain and Germany.