Spy-Proofing: Deutsche Telekom Pushes for All-German Internet

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/deutsche-telekom-pushes-all-german-internet-safe-from-spying-a-933013.html



Recent revelations about NSA spying have given fresh impetus to the dream of a purely German Internet. Deutsche Telekom believes it could introduce a system safe from prying foreign surveillance, but some criticize the plan as pointless.

Spy-Proofing: Deutsche Telekom Pushes for All-German Internet
By Frank Dohmen and Gerald Traufetter
November 12, 2013 – 01:35 PM

~snip~

On the other hand, the equipment that directs traffic on the Internet often comes from China -- for example, routers made by Huawei. "No one can be certain that there isn't spying technology built in there as well," warns Norbert Pohlmann, chair of the IT Security Association Germany (TeleTrust).

The new plan would foster more than just German IT start-ups. The simple message politicians and businesses are selling to the general public is that, in the best-case scenario, data shouldn't leave its home country at all, so as not to be susceptible to monitoring or interception by foreign powers.

However, at the moment, only around 40 percent of German Internet traffic is conducted between domestic computers. The infrastructure for this traffic is provided by German telecommunication companies such as 1&1 and Deutsche Telekom. But some Internet service providers also use American providers, such as Level 3 Communications, for data transfer. That means that even if the actual bits never leave Germany's borders, the NSA could still access them, although the company vehemently denies this. "Around 30 percent of domestic German Internet traffic is susceptible to surveillance," Pohlmann estimates.

Deutsche Telekom wants to change this state of affairs by building a purely German Internet, with data packets only sent via German pathways if the sender and recipient are both within the country.




unhappycamper comment: The only thing a German internet would generate is a shitload of profits for Deutsche Telekom, DT investors and their contractors.

[DetlefK]

1. @unhappycamper: Your talk is cheap.

I am from Germany.

You don't have the military of a foreign country stationed in your country.

You don't have a supposedly allied foreign nation installing spy-centers all over your country and spying on your politicians and industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Examples_of_industrial_espionage

Don't tell me that it's futile for a nation to pursue technological means to defend itself against espionage.

[dipsydoodle]

2. I'm surprised that in Germany

that installation on the roof of the US embassy hasn't been already ripped down for building without planning permission.

[DetlefK]

4. Embassy-installations also have "diplomatic immunity".

They can't even (or, more precisely, choose not to) ticket foreign diplomats in Berlin for parking in forbidden areas, because they want to avoid the diplomatic fallout.

A few years ago, before the war, a son of Muammar Gaddafi was arrested in Switzerland for beating up one of his servants. That arrest was technically illegal and also led to diplomatic difficulties.

[unhappycamper]

3. I am not disparaging Germans or Germany in the slightest.

My comment is based on what I think our corporate President and corporate politicians goals are: make more profits.

I would love to see a NSA-free internets somewhere but I doubt it can happen. There's just too many dollars to be made to 'allow' a nation to set up its own internet.

Once a machine inside the DT network accesses a URL not in that cloud, how can that machine be protected from intrusion? Keep in mind that Microsoft, Google, Firefox, Yahoo and most (if not all) American made products and services have NSA hooks built in. All clicks, keystrokes, IP address and URLs are captured and saved. Automatically.

I'm sorry if I offended you.

[DetlefK]

5. No offence taken, but US-companies don't wield that much power in Germany.

For example, the voters in Germany are further to the left and further on the liberal side. Any politician who dares to pander too hard on the side of Big Money risks blowback by populist pundits and media. For example, Germany's best-selling newspaper "Bild" is cheap crap, but they LOVE whipping up scandals how rich guys are trampling on poor guys.

The US-companies offer great products that are very comfortable, but it's possible to live without them: Munich has switched the IT-system of its whole municipal administration to Linux and IIRC there's a long-term plan to do this for all departments over the next decade.

And it wouldn't have to be an internet. It could be an intranet, run exclusively on Linux. A communications-network your company could use without fear of espionage? What company wouldn't pay for access to that?