--- description: New Zealand prime minister denies his government helped U.S. collect data on private citizens by gaining access to undersea cables title: Edward Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealanders image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2fe070943c0185/6986a34113c79ff259193d7a/edward-snowden.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [New Zealand](/tag/new-zealand/) ## New Zealand Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealand Citizens by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2014 12:01 PM CUT  Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Internet Party leader Laila Harre, Robert Amsterdam, Glenn Greenwald and Kim Dotcom discuss the revelations about New Zealand's mass surveillance at Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand on Sept. 15, 2014. Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Internet Party leader Laila Harre, Robert Amsterdam, Glenn Greenwald and Kim Dotcom discuss the revelations about New Zealand's mass surveillance at Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand on Sept. 15, 2014.Hannah Peters—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 15, 2014 12:01 PM CUT Documents released by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden purport to show U.S. and New Zealand officials have collected [Internet data via underwater cables](http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/edward-snowden-reveals-tapping-of-major-australianew-zealand-undersea-telecommunications-cable-20140915-10h96v.html "undefined") that connect New Zealand, Australia and North America. The documents, reported by [The Intercept](https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/new-zealand-gcsb-speargun-mass-surveillance/ "undefined") and the [Sydney Morning Herald](http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/edward-snowden-reveals-tapping-of-major-australianew-zealand-undersea-telecommunications-cable-20140915-10h96v.html "undefined"), are said to show the program, called “Speargun,” had initially been implemented in 2012 or early 2013 by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand. The GCSB was alleged to have gained covert access to a Trans-Pacific undersea cable network through which data is transmitted between Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii, to allow the NSA to harvest data. Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key denies that the GCSB has participated in mass surveillance of citizens, though he reportedly would not discuss the existence of the program New Zealand reportedly used to conduct surveillance. Snowden said in an interview with [The Intercept](https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/new-zealand-gcsb-speargun-mass-surveillance/ "undefined") website, which first reported the program’s existence, that the Prime Minister was fully aware of the program. “The Prime Minister’s claim to the public, that ‘there is no and there never has been any mass surveillance’, is false,” Snowden said. “The GCSB, whose operations he is responsible for, is directly involved in the untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via internet, satellite, radio, and phone networks.” \[[_Sydney Morning Herald_](http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/edward-snowden-reveals-tapping-of-major-australianew-zealand-undersea-telecommunications-cable-20140915-10h96v.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/"},"headline":"Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealand Citizens","datePublished":"2014-09-15T12:01:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:10:46.637Z","description":"New Zealand prime minister denies his government helped U.S. collect data on private citizens by gaining access to undersea cables","url":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/","keywords":["New Zealand","NSA","Surveillance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2fe070943c0185/6986a34113c79ff259193d7a/edward-snowden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde2fe070943c0185/6986a34113c79ff259193d7a/edward-snowden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Edward Snowden Julian Assange Kim Dotcom Moment of Truth","caption":"Edward Snowden Julian Assange Kim Dotcom Moment of Truth","creditText":"Hannah Peters—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/new-zealand/","name":"New Zealand"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/","name":"Snowden: NSA Collected Data on New Zealand Citizens"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Snowden Offers Brazil Help Investigating U.S. Spying","description":"Edward Snowden is offering Brazil help investigating claims of U.S. spying. He wrote an open letter first published in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Y01qB1DK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-12-17T17:32:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Y01qB1DK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/","duration":"PT2M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3377692/snowden-nsa-new-zealand/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```