Communications of the ACM
Germany Looks at Keeping Its Internet, Email Traffic Inside Its Borders
Germans are furious at allegations of NSA eavesdropping.
Credit: Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters
An alliance of German phone and Internet companies wants to create a network of German email and Internet systems transmitted strictly within German borders. The proposals aim to boost the security of Germany's internal communications by preventing them from leaving the country.
Although the plan seems popular in Germany, the potential results have come into question, as Germans would still want to surf American Web pages, and the U.S. National Security Agency could still theoretically access German data on German soil. Nevertheless, U.S.-based technology firms are preparing for tough competition from foreign companies that claim they are freer from U.S. intrusion and monitoring than their U.S. counterparts. "Germans tend to be very sensitive to the use of their data, I think due to German history," says Jan Oetjen, CEO of GMX, which is collaborating with two other German email firms to offer a service called "E-Mail made in Germany."
Meanwhile, other countries also are considering ways to nationalize their Internet traffic. For example, Brazil wants to require U.S. companies to store data about Brazilian customers within Brazil, and European Union leaders have called on its members to develop cloud data storage options that are independent from the United States.
From The Washington Post
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