UN to contact AT&T following spying report

The United Nations (UN) will contact U.S.telecom giant AT&T following a report confirming that the company had helped the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) wiretap online communications at the world body's headquarters, a spokeswoman said Monday.

"There will be contacts with AT&T," said UN spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci.

"The inviolability of the United Nations is well established under international law, and we expect member states to act accordingly and to respect and protect that inviolability," she said.

The United States had previously assured the UN that they would not monitor UN communications, Maestracci added.

On Saturday, The New York Times published a story confirming that AT&T had helped the NSA spy on vast swaths of Internet traffic, including online UN communications.

The company gave the NSA access, through several ways, to all Internet communications at the UN headquarters, one of its customers, the newspaper said, citing newly disclosed NSA documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden.

It remained unclear whether the programs are still working today, the newspaper said.

"We do not provide information to any investigating authorities without a court order or other mandatory process other than if a person's life is in danger and time is of the essence," the company spokesman Brad Burns said in response to The New York Times report.