LONDON - When people use their phones to play a game, find the location of something on Google Maps, or post a photo, they may be watched. Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies can collect personal information from apps on smartphones across the globe.

The documents were published Monday by The New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica. Mapping, gaming, and social networking apps are a common feature of the world's estimated 1 billion smartphones. The documents suggest that these apps can feed America's National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain's GCHQ spy agency with huge amounts of personal data. Location information and details, such as a person's political interest or sexual preferences, can all be discovered.

The size of the program isn't known. Yet, the reports suggest that U.S. and British intelligence easily get routine access to data generated by apps such as the "Angry Birds" game or the Google Maps navigation service.

A 2008 document from the GCHQ describes its joint spying program with the NSA. It's quoted as saying that the program "effectively means that anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system."

Monitoring Mobile Phones

The NSA did not directly comment on the reports. But in a statement Monday it claimed that the communications of those who were not "valid foreign intelligence targets" were of no interest to the spy agency.

The agency says that it monitors phones because they are often used in planning terror strikes.

"Any implication that NSA's foreign intelligence collection is focused on the smartphone or social media communications of everyday Americans is not true," the statement said. "We collect only those communications that we are authorized by law to collect for valid foreign intelligence and counterintelligence purposes."

GCHQ said it did not comment on intelligence matters. It insisted, however, that all of its activity was "authorized, necessary and proportionate."

Intelligence agencies' interest in mobile phones and the networks they run on has been documented in several of Snowden's previous leaks. The focus on apps, however, is new. It shows how everyday, harmless-looking pieces of software can be turned into tools for spying.

"Angry Birds" was one of the most eye-catching examples. The addictive birds-versus-pigs game has been downloaded more than 1.7 billion times worldwide. The Times and ProPublica said a 2012 British intelligence report laid out how to extract "Angry Birds" users' information from phones.

Another document, a 14-page-long NSA slideshow published to the Web, listed a host of other mobile apps. Ones made by social networking giant Facebook, photo sharing site Flickr, and the film-oriented Flixster were being monitored.

Golden Nuggets Of Data

It wasn't clear precisely what information can be extracted from which apps. One of the slides gave the example of a user who uploaded a photo using a social media app. Under the words "Golden Nugget!" it said that the data generated by the app could be examined to determine a phone's settings, where it connected to, which websites it had visited, which documents it had downloaded, and who its users' friends were. One of the documents said that apps could even be mined for information about users' political interests or sexual preferences.

Google and Rovio Entertainment, the maker of "Angry Birds," did not immediately return messages seeking comment on the reports.

On Monday, the Times briefly posted a censored U.S. document on the smartphone spying. It contained material that appeared to publish the name of an NSA employee. Computer experts said they were able to extract the name of the employee. They also discovered the name of a Middle Eastern terror group the program was targeting, and details about the types of computer files the NSA found useful.

Snowden began leaking documents in June. Since then, his supporters have maintained they have been careful not to release any intelligence official's name. They claim to have kept quiet any operational details that could compromise ongoing spying.

The employee did not return phone or email messages from The Associated Press.

Michael Birmingham is a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence. The DNI is in charge of all U.S. spy agencies - including the NSA, CIA and FBI - and reports to the president. Birmingham said the agency requested the Times not publish the information. A Times spokeswoman said the information had been posted by error. The material has since been removed.]]> effectively extracted generated routine preferences implication access compromise insisted examined eye-catching everyday