[LINK] European Internet Will Not Stop Eavesdropping

Glen Turner gdt at gdt.id.au
Thu Feb 20 11:25:52 AEDT 2014


On 18/02/2014, at 7:59 AM, Tom Worthington wrote:

> I was interviewed on ABC News Radio Monday morning, about reports of the 
> German Chancellor's proposal for a European Internet to stop US 
> eavesdropping: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26210053
> 
> I said a European Internet would be more expensive and ineffective. 
> Those who traditionally spy on the Germans are the French. ;-)

Whilst it would be both of those things, it might serve to place those who offend European laws under the jurisdiction of a European nation. They might well see that as worth the expense.

Note that due to language differences only a small proportion of German traffic travels outside of Germany, only a small proportion of French traffic travels outside of France (ie, there are few German language resources outside of Germany). Thus a "european internet" is a more viable proposition than an "australian internet" and could be readily technically implemented with a few Tbps interconnecting the major euro internet exchanges (London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt/Hamburg/Munich, Paris, Moscow, Stockholm, Madrid).

That leaves the tricky issue of cloud providers. Legislation would be a ready way forward there -- especially if it had criminal penalties (the NSA would be happy to pay any sized fine, but the US does object to having its nationals imprisoned). Even so, the question of verification is acute.

-glen



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