French newspaper Le Monde accused France's government of illegally monitoring citizens' internal and external communications in a report Thursday.
Le Monde immediately compared the French program to the recently revealed PRISM surveillance program in the United States. The report says France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) collects metadata from citizens' phone calls and emails -- but not the content of the messages -- to visualize communications inside and outside the country.
In its report, Le Monde cited a mixture of anonymous internal sources and public reports. DGSE officials said the surveillance practices are legal, which the newspaper disputes.
The revelation of the French program will complicate Europe's debate over U.S. surveillance programs, which targeted Europeans and outraged citizens of European countries, particularly those in privacy-minded Germany. President Barack Obama even agreed to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the matter.
The surfacing of the French program provides evidence that European nations are also spying on their own citizens, weakening Merkel's upper hand in the discussion.
Are you surprised other nations might have PRISM-style surveillance programs? Share your thoughts in the comments.