Yet the nascent effort, which took on new urgency after Germany said on Wednesday that it had evidence that Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone had been monitored, faces an uphill battle if it is to be more than a marketing gimmick.
It would not work when Germans surf on websites hosted on servers abroad, such as social network Facebook or search engine Google, according to interviews with six telecom and Internet experts. Deutsche Telekom could also have trouble getting rival broadband groups on board because they are wary of sharing network information.
More fundamentally, the initiative runs counter to how the Internet works today - global traffic is passed from network to network under free or paid-for agreements with no thought for national borders.
If more countries wall themselves off, it could lead to a troubling "Balkanisation" of the Internet, crippling the openness and efficiency that have made the web a source of economic growth, said Dan Kaminsky, a U.S. security researcher.
Controls over Internet traffic are more commonly seen in countries such as China and Iran where governments seek to limit the content their people can access by erecting firewalls and blocking Facebook and Twitter.
"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.
"The push of Deutsche Telekom is laudable, but it's also a public relations move."
Deutsche Telekom, which is 32 percent owned by the government, has received backing for its project from the telecoms regulator for potentially giving customers more options.
In August, the company also launched a service dubbed "E-mail made in Germany" that encrypts email and sends traffic exclusively through its domestic servers.
BUGGING
Government snooping is a sensitive subject in Germany, which has among the strictest privacy laws in the world, since it dredges up memories of eavesdropping by the Stasi secret police in the former East Germany, where Merkel grew up.
The issue dominated discussions at a European summit on Thursday, prompting Merkel to demand that the U.S. strike a "no-spying" agreement with Berlin and Paris by the end of the year.
As the row festers, telecom and Internet experts said the rhetoric exceeded the practical changes that could be expected from Deutsche Telekom's project. More than 90 percent of Germany's Internet traffic already stays within its borders, said Klaus Landefeld, a board member of the non-profit organisation that runs the DE-CIX Internet exchange point in Frankfurt.
Others pointed out that Deutsche Telekom's preference for being paid by other Internet networks for carrying traffic to the end user, instead of "peering" agreements at no cost, clashed with the goal to keep traffic within Germany. It can be cheaper or free for German traffic to go through London or Amsterdam, where it can be intercepted by foreign spies.
Thomas Kremer, the executive in charge of data privacy and legal affairs for the German operator, said the group needed to sign connection agreements with three additional operators to make a national routing possible. "If this were not the case, one could think of a legislative solution," he said.
"As long as sender and receiver are in the Schengen area or in Germany, traffic should no longer be routed through other countries," Kremer said, referring to the 26-country passport-free zone in Europe.
A spokesman for Telefonica Germany said it was in early discussions on national routing with other groups. A spokesman for Vodafone said it was "evaluating if and how" to implement the Deutsche Telekom proposal.
DATA CENTRES
While the routers and switches that direct traffic can be programmed so data travel certain routes, the most popular online services are not built to respect borders.
Web companies often rely on a few large data centres to power their entire operation, and they don't choose locations based on the location of their customers but on factors such as the availability of cheap power, cool climates, and high-speed broadband networks.
For example, if a Munich resident uses Facebook to chat with a friend sitting 500 kilometres (310 miles) away in Berlin, the traffic would go through one of the company's three massive data centres 8,000 km away in Oregon or North Carolina, or one near the Arctic Circle in the Swedish town of Luleå. European users' profiles are not necessarily stored in the Swedish centre; instead the website's different functions such as games, messaging, and wall posts are distributed among the data centres to improve efficiency.
Similarly, emails sent by Google's Gmail between two German residents would probably be routed through one of the company's three data centres in Finland, Belgium and Ireland.
The only way to change this would be for Germany to require local hosting of websites, a drastic move according to experts that has not yet been pushed by German leaders. Deutsche Telekom declined to say whether it would lobby for such an approach.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, angered by reports that the U.S. spied on her and other Brazilians, is pushing legislation that would force Google, Facebook and other Internet companies to store locally gathered or user-generated data inside the country.
One 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 greatly toughened version of the law was backed by the European Parliament on Monday, but it still requires agreement by members states.
France and Germany may succeed in getting member states to push ahead on talks to complete the new data rules by 2015.
Deutsche Telekom's 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."
worldbulletin.net
25/10/13
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Related:
«Και εμένα με παρακολουθούσαν οι Γάλλοι» είπε η Μαντλίν Ολμπράιτ.
NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts
France condemns US for spying on its citizens. -President Hollande calls US counterpart to express "deep disapproval" over tapping of 70m communications in a month.
Η Γαλλία διαθέτει το δικό της σύστημα παρακολούθησης τύπου Prism
Μάρτιν Σουλτς: «Οι ΗΠΑ μεταχειρίζονται τους φίλους τους σαν εχθρικές δυνάμεις»
US plays down reports of spying on EU, other allies
Θύμα αμερικανικής κατασκοπείας και η Α. Μέρκελ;Το Der Spiegel συμπεραίνει, ότι «η παρακολούθηση γίνεται με την έγκριση του Λευκού Οίκου».
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Washington controló millones de llamadas y espió a políticos en España....Fuentes del Gobierno limitan las supuestas escuchas a la etapa de Zapatero...
ReplyDeleteLa Agencia Nacional de Seguridad (NSA) estadounidense no solo ha rastreado masivamente las comunicaciones telefónicas, SMS y correos electrónicos de millones de españoles, sino que ha espiado a miembros del Gobierno y a políticos, según fuentes conocedoras de los documentos secretos sustraídos por el exanalista Edward Snowden. El Gobierno español, que hasta el último minuto se ha negado a aceptar las evidencias de que el espionaje de EE UU también ha actuado ilegalmente en España, intentaba ayer evitar que el caso dañe sus relaciones con Washington.
Mientras el escándalo iba creciendo en los pasillos de Justus Lipsius, el edificio de Bruselas donde estaba reunido el Consejo Europeo, Mariano Rajoy era uno de los pocos mandatarios que guardaba silencio......http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/10/24/actualidad/1382642579_515479.html
25/10/13
Commentary: Amid troubling spying accusations, Washington needs to address global concerns...
ReplyDeleteby Tian Dongdong
BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Following Mexico and France, Germany, another decades-long ally of Washington, has reportedly also fallen victim to the alleged U.S. spying program.
What's more, what happened in Germany and France may be only the tip of the iceberg.
A growing list of nations, developed or underdeveloped, Latin American or European, allies or rivals, have apparently been indiscriminately targeted by a massive U.S monitoring network.
When classified files were leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, U.S. President Barack Obama asserted it was part of an effort to fight terrorism and protect the security of citizens.
But the latest revelations about U.S. spying on the personal cellphones and email inboxes of heads of other countries have obviously contradicted and overthrown his argument.
Mutual trust will fade if such insensible policies are not adjusted, even with once-close friends.
Loss of faith in each other, the very centerpiece of political relations, will surely give nations pause for thought on their future collaboration with Washington.
As more and more countries voice anger over its spying program, the United States can only regain the trust of its partners and the world at large by offering honest explanations and increasing transparency about its surveillance.
This is especially true if it hopes to keep an untainted global image and continue its global leadership.
http://english.cntv.cn/20131025/103596.shtml
25/10/13
EU sending team to US to seek clarity on espionage claims...
ReplyDeleteBRUSSELS - A delegation of lawmakers from the European Union will travel to Washington on Monday to seek a response to allegations of widespread spying by the United States against EU citizens and governments, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The three-day visit by members of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee follows reports this week that the US National Security Agency accessed tens of thousands of French phone records and monitored Merkel's mobile phone.
The revelations have drawn condemnation from EU leaders meeting in Brussels, with Merkel demanding that the United States sign up to a "no-spying" agreement with Germany and France by the end of the year, in line with similar deals with Britain and others.
The nine-member delegation will meet senior US government and intelligence officials and explore "possible legal remedies for EU citizens" resulting from the alleged surveillance, although it is not clear what such remedies might entail.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/EU-sending-team-to-US-to-seek-clarity-on-espionage-claims-329742
25/10/13
EE UU promete espiar sólo lo que necesite, no todo lo que pueda....Washington insiste en su derecho a recabar información en cualquier país para proteger a sus ciudadanos....
ReplyDeleteEl Gobierno de Estados Unidos insiste en su derecho a recabar información en cualquier país del mundo con objeto de proteger a sus ciudadanos, pero está dispuesto a revisar los programas actuales de espionaje para asegurarse de que se recoge la información que realmente se necesita, no toda la que su desarrollada tecnología es capaz de reunir.
En ese contexto, la portavoz del Departamento de Estado, Jean Psaki, comentó que la Administración estaba considerando la propuesta hecha por Alemania y Francia de discutir con EE UU nuevas reglas para limitar el espionaje, aunque añadió que no había todavía ninguna decisión al respecto......http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/10/25/actualidad/1382728889_856995.html
25/10/13
NSA: New reports in German media deepen US-Merkel spy row...
ReplyDeleteFresh reports in German media based on leaked US intelligence documents are prompting damaging new questions about the extent of US surveillance.
Der Spiegel suggests the US has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone since 2002.
Another report says Mr Obama was told in 2010 about the surveillance and failed to stop it.
The spy row has led to the worst diplomatic crisis betweeen the two countries in living memory.
Leaked documents say a US listening unit was based in its Berlin embassy - and similar operations were replicated in 80 locations around the world.
The German interior minister has been quoted as saying such an operation, if confirmed, would be illegal.
On Friday, Germany and France said they wanted the US to sign a no-spy deal by the end of the year.
As well as the bugging of Mrs Merkel's phone, there are claims the NSA has monitored millions of telephone calls made by German and French citizens.
'Obama's green light'
Der Spiegel claims to have seen secret documents from the National Security Agency which show Mrs Merkel's number on a list dating from 2002 - three years before she became chancellor.
This might indicate that there was extensive bugging of the phones of prominent people, says the BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24692908
27/10/13
Republikaner: Europa sollte dankbar für die Überwachung sein....
ReplyDelete27.10.2013 · Empörung über die NSA-Überwachung? Europa übertreibt maßlos, glauben viele Amerikaner. Die Franzosen, deren Telefone millionenfach ausgespäht wurden, müssten „die Champagnerkorken knallen lassen“, findet auch der Republikaner Mike Rogers. Denn die Überwachung mache auch Europa sicherer. „Das ist eine gute Sache.“
Die NSA-Affäre nimmt immer größere Ausmaße an - und mit jedem Tag steigt die Wut der Europäer über die Unverfrorenheit, mit der die amerikanischen Verbündeten Telefongespräche und Datenströme auf dem Kontinent bis hinauf zum Parteihandy der Kanzlerin überwachen. In Amerika jedoch ist der Skandal in vielen Medien zwischen Obamacare und Schuldenkrise weiter nur eine Randnotiz.
Vor allem bei den Republikanern versteht man die Aufregung nicht - und erwartet statt Empörung eher Dankbarkeit von den Europäern. Auch Mike Rogers tut das, der Vorsitzende des ständigen Geheimdienstausschusses im Repräsentantenhaus. „Wenn die Franzosen genau wüssten, worum es dabei eigentlich ging, würden sie applaudieren und die Champagnerkorken knallen lassen“, sagte Rogers in einem CNN-Interview mit Bezug auf die NSA-Aktivitäten in Frankreich, wo die NSA Millionen Telefonanschlüsse abgehört haben soll. „Es ist eine gute Sache. Sie schützt die Vereinigten Staaten, die Franzosen und die europäischen Verbündeten.“
„Manchmal haben unsere Freunde Beziehungen zu unseren Feinden“
Überhaupt, so Rogers weiter, seien sich die Europäer nicht darüber im Klaren, dass sie auch von ihren eigenen Regierungen abgehört und überwacht würden - und das in einem großen Ausmaß.
Doch Rogers ging in dem CNN-Interview noch weiter - und dürfte damit den atlantischen Graben zwischen den Verbündeten nicht eben zuschütten: Das Aufkommen des Faschismus in Europa im frühen 20. Jahrhundert, orakelte er, könne zum Teil auch damit erklärt werden, dass die Vereinigten Staaten seinerzeit bewusst auf eine Überwachung ihrer Verbündeten verzichtet hätten. „Damals haben wir gesagt: Wir werden nichts machen, das unangemessen sein könnte“, so Rogers. „Das Ergebnis dieser Entscheidung in den 30 Jahren waren der Aufstieg des Faschismus, des Kommunismus und des Imperialismus. Alle diese Dinge haben wir nicht kommen sehen, und die Folge war der Tod von Millionen Menschen.“ Man müsse bedenken, so Rogers, dass „unsere Freunde manchmal Beziehungen zu unseren Feinden haben“.................http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/amerikanische-reaktionen-auf-die-nsa-affaere-republikaner-europa-sollte-dankbar-fuer-die-ueberwachung-sein-12636759.html
27/10/13
Ecoutes US: l'Allemagne veut renforcer son contre-espionnage...
ReplyDeleteL'Office fédéral de protection de la constitution d'Allemagne compte réformer son service de contre-espionnage suite aux écoutes menées par les Etats-Unis et la Grande-Bretagne sur le territoire allemand, annonce dimanche le journal Spiegel.
Selon le Spiegel, l'Office fédéral de protection de la constitution, un des trois principaux services de renseignement allemands, compte élargir son quatrième bureau en charge du contre-espionnage et renforcer le contrôle sur les sites des pays alliés se trouvant sur le territoire allemand.
Le journal indique que le projet ne prévoit pas d'espionner les ambassades et les consulats au moyen d'écoutes et d'agents, mais d'obtenir des données plus précises sur les membres des services secrets accrédités auprès des ambassades et l'équipement technique des missions diplomatiques.
Le Service de contre-intelligence militaire allemand envisage lui aussi de renforcer son contrôle sur les services de renseignement alliés, indique le Spiegel.................http://fr.ria.ru/world/20140216/200488956.html
16/2/14