United States Spied on Law Firm Representing Indonesia

[Harry-Potter]

The obvious obsession of the United States with spying on everybody seems to extend to law companies that had the misfortune of representing someone the American government didn’t like. Another document obtained by Edward Snowden revealed that a law firm was monitored while representing Indonesia in trade disputes with the US.

 

 

Indonesia hired the law firm for trade talks, while the Australian Signals Directorate was monitoring them. The Australian agency notified the US National Security Agency about its surveillance of the talks, which included communications between Indonesian officials and the American law firm. The Aussie also offered to share the information, while warning that “data covered by attorney-client privilege may be included” in the intelligence gathering.

The leak doesn’t reveal the name of that law firm, but it is known that Mayer Brown, a Chicago-based company with a global practice, was responsible with advising the Indonesian government on trade at the moment.

Media reports quoted Mayer Brown lawyer Duane Layton, known to be involved in the trade talks. He said he didn’t have any evidence that he or his company had been spied after by Australian or American intelligence agencies.