Vunderkind
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This was revealed in a document leaked by Edward Snowden, former National Security Agency contractor. The document showed two Muslims who were ‘discreditable’ by accusations of being promiscuous online.
This report, of course, has been greeted by uproar.
Privacy International, a campaign group has said that this is “frightening”, while and official said it wasn’t surprising: "Without discussing specific individuals, it should not be surprising that the US government uses all of the lawful tools at our disposal to impede the efforts of valid terrorist targets who seek to harm the nation and radicalize others to violence." - Shawn Turner, director of public affairs for National Intelligence.
Privacy International told Huffington post, “This is not the first time we've seen States use intimate and private information of an individual who holds views the government doesn't agree with, and exploit this information to undermine an individual's message."
This new development is coming on the heels of a group of UN experts adopting a ‘right to privacy’ resolution. The Human Rights Committee of the UN said it was very concerned that the collection of such data, one acquired through ‘exterritorial surveillance” had the likelihood for a ‘negative impact’, when carried out on a mass scale.
The resolution by the UN will passed by its General Assembly before the end of the year, but this is basically academic, as there are no legal implications for breaking the resolution.