UN plans to contact AT&T about report it allowed US to wiretap all Internet traffic at UN

The United Nations says it plans to contact telecom giant AT&T about a report that it allowed the U.S. National Security Agency to wiretap all Internet communications at U.N. headquarters.

Vannina Maestracci, a U.N. spokeswoman, said Monday that U.S. officials had previously given the U.N. assurances "that they are not ... monitoring our communications."

She was responding to a New York Times report which said AT&T provided technical assistance in carrying out a secret court order permitting the wiretapping of all Internet communications at U.N. headquarters, a customer of AT&T.

While NSA spying on U.N. diplomats had been previously reported, the newspaper said Saturday that neither the court order nor AT&T's involvement had been disclosed.

Maestracci said all countries must respect the U.N.'s well-established "inviolability" under international law.