LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Telecommunications firm Cable &Wireless helped Britain eavesdrop on millions of Internet usersworldwide, Channel 4 reported on Thursday, citing previouslysecret documents leaked by a fugitive former U.S. NationalSecurity Agency contractor.
Cable & Wireless, which was bought by Vodafone in2012, provided British spies with traffic from rival foreigncommunications companies, Britain's Channel 4 television said,citing documents stolen by Edward Snowden.
Channel 4 said Cable & Wireless gave Britain's GCHQeavesdropping agency access by renting space on one of thearteries of global communications, a cable that runs to thesouthern English region of Cornwall.
The Channel 4 report, which was impossible to immediatelyverify given the secrecy of the surveillance programmes, saidCable & Wireless carried out surveillance on Internet trafficthrough its networks on behalf of British spies.
The documents cited in the report were not shown on Channel4's web site. But previous disclosures by Snowden haveillustrated the scale of U.S. and British eavesdropping oneverything from phone calls and emails to Internet and socialmedia.
Some telecommunications and Internet companies in Britainand the United States were asked or forced to cooperate with theeavesdropping programmes, according to previous media reports.
When asked for comment on the Channel 4 report, Vodafonesaid in a statement that it had examined the history of Cable &Wireless compliance and found no evidence that wouldsubstantiate the allegations.
"We have found no indication whatsoever of unlawful activitywithin Vodafone or Cable & Wireless and we do not recognise anyof the UK intelligence agency programmes identified," it said ina statement. "Furthermore, Vodafone does not own or operate thecables referred to."
It added that national laws require it to disclose someinformation about its customers to law enforcement agencies orother government authorities when asked to do so.
In the wake of the Snowden revelations, GCHQ was accused byprivacy groups and some lawmakers of illegally monitoringelectronic communications.
British ministers denied any illegality and top spiesdismissed suspicions of sinister intent, saying they sought onlyto defend the liberties of Western democracies. GCHQ declined tocomment on the Channel 4 report.
Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, Britain's domesticsecurity service, warned last year that the revelations fromSnowden, who now lives in Moscow, were a gift to terroristsbecause they had exposed GCHQ's ability to track, listen andwatch plotters. (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton; Editing byMark Heinrich)
