As the UK prepares to host the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland on Monday and Tuesday, there is word that delegates allies were among those snooped on when they attended two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009. 

The UK’s eavesdropping included:  Setting up fake Internet cafes with key-logging software; hacking the delegates’ BlackBerrys; and, working with Americans to intercept on phone calls Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made to Moscow.

All this has been revealed by The Guardian newspaper, whose reporters read the documents revealed by American whistleblower Edward Snowden.  The former National Security Agency sub-contractor fled the US to Hong Kong before spilling the beans to The Guardian.  He remains

The spying at the earlier summit appears to have been aimed at gathering information to give the UK an advantage in meetings.  Named targets include long-standing allies such as South Africa and Turkey, particularly Turkey’s then-finance minister.