The head of the Southern Cross Cable Network has disputed Prime Minister John Key's claim that a cable had been tapped into as part of a proposition to collect metadata.
During Kim Dotcom's Moment of Truth on Monday night, US journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed a plan to implement mass surveillance, which was code named "Spear Gun".
The first stage, which was tapping into New Zealand's main submarine data link - the Southern Cross Cable - was implemented at some point in 2012 or early 2013.
Mr Key on Monday acknowledged the GCSB had indeed tapped into the cable, but for the purposes of a cybersecurity programme.
However, Mr Key said concerns the project would be perceived as mass surveillance led to it being scaled back to a much narrower programme.
