Germany May Set Up Its Own Internet After NSA Spying Scandal
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Germany is reportedly considering creating its own Internet network service in order to “shield local internet traffic from foreign intelligence services” like the NSA, reported Reuters last week.
Germany is reportedly considering creating its own Internet network service in order to “shield local internet traffic from foreign intelligence services” like the NSA, reported Reuters last week.
The proposal came after allegations arose that the United States government had monitored German chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone since 2002, while eavesdropping activities is also said to have been run out of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin as well as in about 80 other embassies and consulates around the world.
State-backed communications firm Deutsche Telekom is said to be behind the national Internet proposal and has urged other local firms to join in.
“If the Americans eavesdropped on cellphones in Germany, they broke German law on German soil,” said German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, as quoted by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday.
[quote]“Eavesdropping is a crime and those responsible must be held accountable,” he added.[/quote]Telecom and Internet experts Reuters spoke to however believed that Deutsche Telekom and the German state would face an uphill challenge in creating its own Internet.
Firstly, Deutsche Telekom would have trouble getting rival broadband groups on board due to concerns of sharing network information.
Next, the initiative also runs counter to how the Internet works today – whereby global traffic is passed from network to network under free or paid-for agreements with no thought for national borders.
Third, for some German Internet users, it has been cheaper to route traffic through other countries rather than pay Deutsche Telekom relatively high prices for broadband service. The prospect of pricier service fees and limited access to the entire Web might kill the prospect of a German-run Internet before it ever gets off the ground.
Finally, Germans would also be upset to lose access to popular websites on foreign servers, such as Facebook or Google.
“It is internationally without precedent that the internet traffic of a developed country bypasses the servers of another country,” said Torsten Gerpott, a professor of business and telecoms at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
[quote]”The push of Deutsche Telekom is laudable, but it’s also a public relations move,” Gerpott added.[/quote]Related: Germany Calls For Tighter Global Internet Safeguards
Related: Brazil, Argentina To Team Up Against US Cyber-Spying
Related: Can Security Be Achieved Through Surveillance And Spying?
According to Reuters, an alternative solution would be for European leaders to beef up a new data-privacy law, which has been in the works for almost two years. A new, greatly toughened version of the law, was backed by the European Parliament on Monday, but it will still require agreement by members states.
[quote]Deutsche Telekom’s executive in charge of data privacy and legal affairs, Thomas Kremer, said the new law could help: “Of course customers need to be able to use any web services they like, anywhere in the world. But we need to make this safer.”[/quote]
