Europeans were largely underwhelmed by Barack Obama's speech on limited reform of US espionage practices, saying the measures did not go far enough to address concerns over American snooping on its European allies.
European Union
Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European commission, said Obama's speech was a step in the right direction: "I am encouraged to see that non-US citizens stand to benefit from spying safeguards. In data protection we trust. I agree with President Obama [that] more work will be needed in future. I look forward to seeing these commitments followed by legislative action."
Jan-Phillip Albrecht, the German MEP who is steering through the European parliament stiffer rules on the transfer of data to the US, dismissed the White House initiative. "It is not sufficient at all," he said. "The collection of foreigners' data will go on. There is almost nothing here for the Europeans. I see no further limitations in scope. There is nothing here that leads to a change of the situation."
Claude Moraes, the British Labour MEP who authored last week's report by the European parliament on the NSA issue, was mildly more complimentary. "There is substantial acknowledgment that the NSA has caused the deepest concern and anxiety in Europe. But there will be a big pause before we can judge whether the protections will be forthcoming for EU citizens," he said.
Moraes singled out the issue of judicial redress for EU citizens in the US courts if they feel their data privacy rights have been abused. "He didn't actually give any substantial proposals in the foreign area," he said.
Germany
Angela Merkel's spokesperson, Steffen Seibert, said: "The government will analyse the US president's announcements carefully. Many people in Germany are rightfully concerned about the safety of their private data after reports about NSA activity. Against this background we welcome in principle that the protection of data and personal rights also of non-US citizens will be taken more into consideration in the future.
"For the German government, the co-operation with allied nations' intelligence agencies is of mutual interest. The data protection and rights of German citizens have to be taken into account, however. As before, the German government believes that German rule of law is to be respected on German soil, and especially from close partners and allies.
"In the light of today's speech we will continue confidential talks about a new clear basis for co-operation amongst intelligence agencies."
Norbert Röttgen, a former CDU environment minister who now advises the government on foreign policy, told ZDF television that Obama had failed to meet his low expectations for the speech. "The changes offered by President Obama were more of technical nature and sadly failed to tackle the basic problem: we have a transatlantic disagreement over the weighing-up between security and freedom. It is essential that we develop a dialogue about a mutual understanding of these terms," he said.
UK
A source close to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said: "A lot but not all of what President Obama had to say has only relevance to the US rather than direct read across. But it is also clear that there is a more open debate in the US about surveillance than we are having in this country. Nick Clegg has made it clear he wants that debate to happen here, and as a first step we will be having a debate at our [Lib Dem party] conference in March."
Nick Pickles, director of Big Brother Watch, said: "President Obama recognised public debate had been insufficient and that law has failed to keep pace with technological change. Both of these issues are more pronounced in Britain, but go unaddressed by the agencies. What is clear that Britain already lagged behind the United States in terms of surveillance oversight and accountability, with no involvement of courts or meaningful transparency. That gap is set to widen further still and that should be a call to action for parliament.
"President Obama emphasised the need for judicial oversight by courts, greater transparency by the government and companies, and for the legal basis of surveillance programmes to be public. All of these issues should be pursued in Britain to protect our privacy and our economy."
Brazil
The government of Brazil has gone further than most in criticising the US spying programme following Snowden's leak of documents showing that the NSA monitored the phone calls of president Dilma Rousseff, tapped communications related to the country's biggest company, Petrobras, and collected the phone and email data of millions of ordinary Brazilians. Last September, Rousseff cancelled a White House dinner after failing to receive an adequate explanation from Obama about why the US was conducting espionage on a friendly nation.
Officials in Brasilia said the government did not plan to comment publicly on Obama's speech. Other Brazilians had mixed views about whether it would open up enough diplomatic wriggle room to smooth bilateral relations.
Ronaldo Lemos, director of the Institute of Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro, said the speech would help to reduce public and government anger towards the US. "I think it paves the way for a better Brazil-US relationship for sure," said Lemos. "It's positive that Obama is basically saying that the rights of foreigners, non-US citizens are going to be taken into account. According to the speech, there will also be a normative text saying what they will do and won't do in respect to foreign countries."
Lemos, one of the authors of pending legislation on internet governance in Brazil, said the speech should be seen as a "very impressive" bid by the US to regain the high ground in the global debate about internet governance.
In the wake of the Snowden revelations, he said, the US had lost the initiative in the global debate about the future of the internet, as well as a great deal of trust. Brazil, Germany and other nations used this opportunity to push new rules of internet governance at the UN and other forums.
"If you read between the lines in Obama's speech, it is clearly an effort to take back US leadership in regards to civil liberties and internet governenance," Lemos said. "They want to get back the space they have lost since the Snowden case. For Brazil and Germany, that will be a challenge."
Brazil is planning to host a global conference on internet governance in March and has moved to enact a new domestic law – the Marco Civil – setting out the civil rights framework for the internet. But the conference agenda remains unclear and the law has yet to be passed.
Other observers were underwhelmed by Obama's speech. "As I understand, little has changed," said Jonatas Lucena, a São Paulo-based lawyer who specialises in internet crime. "He has announced that the NSA will not spy on leaders of US allies, but up to what point is that true? I don't think foreign heads of state will believe this, but what alternative do they have?"
But he praised the US government for having such a debate and for pursuing national interests more sincerely than politicians in Brazil, who, he said, needed to do more to reduce the country's dependence on US technology.