The consequences of NSA spying are spilling over to the rest of the world. Recent reports released by the Sydney Morning Herald show that Australian embassies and resources have been used by the U.S. as a part of its spying operation. These Australian embassies were mostly used to spy on Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and China. This report was based on a document leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

News of Australian spying has angered many Asian countries. Some of them like China have summoned the Australian ambassador to clarify the role of Australia in this controversy. In other countries, private groups have resorted to their own way of handling this spying controversy. In Indonesia, for example, a group called Anonymous Indonesia has defaced around 170 Australian websites. The list of websites that was hacked was posted on Twitter (News - Alert) and this list included a majority of small Australian business owners. The defaced websites had a message that read “Stop Spying on Indonesia.” The loss to these small business owners is significant and they are likely to pay a high price for something that had nothing to do with them.

This move by Anonymous Indonesia is likely to have major repercussions in the political and business circles. This is because Australia and Indonesia are neighbors and close business partners. The two-way trade between the two countries amounts to more than 15 billion each year and besides, Indonesia receives a lot of development aid from Australia. The exact impact of the news of Australian spying and the retaliation by Indonesian group will unfold only in the next few months.

In the meantime, there is a lot of debate going on about spying and political leaders are working on finding a common solution to this problem. It is hoped that such activities do not occur in the future. Instead, a collaborative approach that will benefit the common people should be encouraged.