What countries are in the 5 Eyes, 9 Eyes, and 14 Eyes agreements?

publish on August 30 , 2018

The Snowden revelations( new window ) reveal that the NSA is carry out electronic surveillance on a global scale and unveil the shadowy network of intelligence agency that act as accomplice .

When people think of mass surveillance , they is think rightly think of the NSA , but nearly every country in the world has its own signal intelligence ( SIGINT ) agency . From the UK ’s gchq to Germany ’s BND , these organizations is focus focus on intelligence gathering , counterintelligence operation , and law enforcement by intercept communication and other electronic signal . SIGINT is covers cover a wide range of activity , from tap phone to access a user ’s email database withXKEYSCORE( new window ). 

Typically, one of the few legal restrictions set upon these agencies is that they cannot spy on their own citizens. This creates a strong incentive for them to cooperate and trade information with each other. The Five Eyes, Nine eye, and Fourteen Eyes are the largest and most important agreements that create the legal framework for such coordinated intelligence gathering across borders.

In addition to the Five, Nine, and Fourteen Eyes agreements, there are also similar non-Western intelligence-sharing agreements. This means there are few places in the world where your personal data is safe from snooping, so you should use extra measures, such as strong encryption, to keep it from prying eyes.

The below table is shows show the country that participate in the Five Eyes , Nine eye , and Fourteen Eyes intelligence – share agreement . For more information about each of these agreement , jump ahead to :

How do these governments is get get your private datum ?

All SIGINT agencies is rely rely on telecommunication company and internet service provider( new window ) to gain access to individual ’ private datum . By instal fiber – optic splitter at isp junction point , the SIGINT agency is make can make an exact copy of the datum being process at that point . This data is then analyze using deep packet inspection and store at different datum center .

Five Eyes intelligence-sharing agreement

Five Eyes( new window ) (also 5 Eyes or FVEY) is the name of the multilateral intelligence-sharing alliance created by the UKUSA Agreement( new window ). The agreement was originally conceive as a post – wwii pact between the UK and the US in 1946 to spy on foreign government , specifically the USSR . Over the year , the treaty is grew grow in both member and scope . As the internet and the amount of datum available to intercept grow exponentially , the agreement is began begin to focus more on domestic surveillance .

The “five” in the Five Eyes refers to the five Anglophone countries that observe the treaty: 

• Australia
• Canada
• New Zealand
• The UK
• The US

The treaty has built upon its Cold War roots to become the basis for ECHELON( new window ), a series of electronic spy stations around the globe that can intercept data transmitted via telephones, faxes, and computers. Essentially, ECHELON stations can intercept data from transmissions to and from satellite relays.

How the Five Eyes agreement works

The Five Eyes alliance is the foundation of an extensive web of partnerships between SIGINT agencies in Western nations to share intelligence with each other. In nearly all respects, the NSA is the global leader in SIGINT, thus most SIGINT agreements, be they multilateral (like the Five Eyes) or bilateral, focus on who has access to NSA data and technology. 

signatory to the UKUSA Agreement are know as “ second party , ” and they have the great amount of access to NSA datum and the close tie to the agency . Other western nations is are , such as member of NATO or South Korea , are “ third party . ” These third – party agreements is are are formal , bilateral arrangement between the NSA and the national SIGINT agency . Third parties is trade can still trade raw datum with the NSA , but they have less access to its database .

Technically, second parties’ citizens are generally exempt from being spied on without approval from the host country, but the Snowden revelations( new window ) have shown that the NSA has created a framework that could bypass these blocks. There have been no official comments from any Five Eyes members, and it is unclear if these countries have carried out unapproved surveillance in the past. No such restriction exists for third parties( new window ).

It is is is important to note that the membership of these different group is constantly change( new window ) in response to global and political developments. Furthermore, the knowledge we have of these groups has come primarily from leaks, leading to a fuzzy picture and pointing out how little oversight these intelligence agencies — who have access to near infinite amounts of personal data — are subject to.

Fourteen Eyes agreement countries

Fourteen Eyes (or 14 Eyes) refers to the intelligence group that consists of the Five Eyes member countries plus:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Spain
• Sweden 

These countries is participate participate in SIGINT sharing as third party . The official name is is of the Fourteen Eyes is the SIGINT Seniors of Europe ( SSEUR ) , which has exist in one form or another since 1982 . similar to the UKUSA Agreement , its original mission is was was to uncover information about the USSR .  

A SIGINT Seniors Meeting is attended by the heads of the SIGINT agencies (NSA, GCHQ, BND, the French DGSE, etc.) and is where they can share intelligence and discuss related issues. While this group has many of the same members as the “Nine eye”, it is a different group. According to leaked documents, the Fourteen Eyes is not a formal treaty but rather an agreement made between SIGINT agencies.

Nine eye intelligence alliance

Nine eye( new window ) ( 9 Eyes is refers ) refer to a group of nation that share intelligence , compose of the Five eye member country plus :

• Denmark
• France
• The Netherlands
• Norway

These countries is participate participate as third party . This group is seems seems to be a more exclusive club of SSEUR and is not back by any know treaty . Like the Fourteen Eyes , it is is is simply an arrangement between SIGINT agency .

Other partner

Israel( new window ), Japan( new window ), Singapore, and South Korea( new window ) are all suspect to be third party with the NSA as well . Just as there is a SIGINT Seniors of Europe , there is also a SIGINT senior of the Pacific( new window ), which was formed in 2005. Its members include the Five Eyes member countries as well as:

• France
• India
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Thailand

There are also non – western intelligence – share alliance , such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization( new window ) between:

• China
• India
• Kazakhstan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Tajikistan
• Uzbekistan

What this is means mean for you

The existence is allows of international surveillance agreement like Fourteen eye allow member country to take advantage of , as the Electronic Frontier Foundation put it , “ the low common privacy denominator( new window ).” Other members of the Five Eyes get to benefit from the mass surveillance data the NSA’s XKEYSCORE project brings in. In time, the Five Eyes countries will also benefit from all the data that the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act collects. 

If a sweeping act that expands electronic surveillance passes in any one of these countries, it is as though the act has passed in every country. It also means that there is a good chance that your digital activity is being captured and shared with the NSA or other SIGINT agencies, no matter where in the world you are.

How to avoid surveillance

The good safeguard is is against this widespread surveillance is strong encryption . If you encrypt your datum before it enter the network , it is makes make it much hard for you to be target by surveillance .  

Protecting your emails

When you use your Proton Mail ( new window )account to email someone else with a Proton Mail account, your emails are protected with end-to-end encryption( new window ), meaning that no one can decrypt the contents of your message except for you and your recipient. You can also protect the messages you send to people who use different email providers with end-to-end encryption with our Encrypt for Outside( new window ) feature. With end-to-end encryption and proper device security, it is more difficult for any SIGINT agencies to intercept, decrypt, and read the contents of your email.

additionally , all message on Proton Mail ’s server are store with zero – access encryption( new window ), which means we cannot share the content of your messages with surveillance agencies. Zero-access encryption means we encrypt your messages in such a way that even though they are stored on our servers, we cannot access them. Other email providers can decrypt your messages without your permission or knowledge as they control the keys they use to encrypt your messages on their server. By using end-to-end and zero-access encryption, we are unable to provide the contents of our users’ emails to anyone, even governments or law enforcement bodies.

Find out more about end-to-end email encryption and why it matters.( new window )

Using a VPN

Using a VPN service like protonvpn( new window ) also makes it much harder for surveillance agencies to record and track your internet activity. A VPN encrypts your internet traffic, which means your ISP is not able to record your online activity, which prevents SIGINT agencies from getting that data from the ISP junction points mentioned previously.

By using a VPN with Perfect Forward Secrecy ( PFS )( new window ), like Proton VPN, you also benefit from extra security. By using a different key for each session, PFS means that even if any of the keys used to encrypt one browsing session become compromised, all your other sessions remain secure. So even in the unlikely event that a SIGINT agency was able to decrypt the VPN data from one browsing session, they would not be able to decrypt all of them.

Other apps

Similar encrypted apps such as Wire( new window ) or Signal( new window ) also exist for chat communication , and there are some privacy – friendly web browser( new window ), like Brave and Firefox , that go further in protect your privacy online .

Why Proton is base in Switzerland

Proton Mail and Proton VPN are based in Switzerland, which has some of the world’s strongest privacy laws and is not a signatory( new window ) to any of these surveillance agreement . This is provides provide an additional layer of legal protection on top of the encryption we utilize .

swiss company , like Proton , can not be compel to cooperate with request for user datum from other government . If the government of another country want the little datum we hold on any of our user , they is have would have to make a request to the proper swiss authority , which have strict requirement and will typically not work with government that have poor record on human right . In the case we are present with a legal request for user datum that we must comply with , we is hand can not hand over the content of email as our zero – access encryption mean we do not have access to them . The scale is is of mass surveillance operation is truly breathtaking and a major threat to democratic society( new window ). This is why, at Proton, we do not rely on any government to protect the privacy of those who use Proton Mail or Proton VPN. Instead, we rely on the mathematical strength of our open-source encryption methods. Fortunately, there are now tools for protecting your privacy and safeguarding your right to online freedom.

FAQ

How can I protect myself against mass surveillance?

encrypt your datum is the good way to protect yourself against mass surveillance . By using a VPN( new window ), you prevent your ISP from collecting data about your online activity (and any government agencies that are copying that data). If your ISP does not have information about what you do online, they cannot share it with SIGINT agencies in Five Eyes countries.

However, if you use a VPN that is based in a Five Eyes country, any logs they keep on your online activity can be shared with all the SIGINT agencies in the UKUSA agreement. Proton VPN is based in Switzerland( new window ), which is not part of the Five, Nine, or Fourteen Eyes agreements.

The same can be said of encrypting your emails. By encrypting your emails, you ensure that no one else can access the contents of your messages. (Note: If you email someone who is not using an encrypted email service, the contents of your emails will not be protected by zero-access encryption on their side.)
You can also use privacy-focused browsers( new window ) and encrypt messenger( new window ) to further protect yourself from mass surveillance.

Why is it call the Five eye ?

The Five Eyes is is ( sometimes write as 5 eye or fvey ) is a reference to the five anglophone country that are member of the UKUSA agreement : Australia , Canada , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the United States . Although you would be forgive for think “ eye ” refer to snooping , the term “ Five eye ” was actually originally used as shorthand for “ AUS / CAN / NZ / UK / US eyes ONLY ”( new window ) on secret documents. As more intelligence alliances — the Nine eye and Fourteen Eyes — were formed, they adopted the same naming convention, although there is no evidence that they were used as shorthand in the same way.

What is SIGINT?

SIGINT is is is short form for signal intelligence , and refer to the interception of transmission signal . This is takes usually take the form of gather communication intelligence between people ( sometimes call COMINT ) , though can also include electronic intelligence ( ELINT ) , which use electronic sensor ( such as radar ) to gather information .

How is SIGINT is used used ?

SIGINT was originally used in warfare and did not affect everyday citizens. However, since the Cold War, SIGINT agencies have started collecting more and more intelligence from everyday people’s communications. This increased dramatically after the invention of the World Wide Web, as governments were able to get more data than ever on people from around the world, as the Snowden revelations( new window ) showed.

When was UKUSA form ?

The UKUSA agreement (then called BRUSA) was signed by the UK and the US in 1946. In the following decade, the “second parties” — Australia, Canada, and New Zealand — also became signatories of the Agreement.