WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that in 2016 a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom would host data centers in Germany to protect the privacy of foreign customers from surveillance by US intelligence agencies.
"It is not enough to store the data of Europeans in Europe," Wiebe said, noting that US and UK intelligence agencies hacked Deutsche Telekom in 2014. "Data can be anywhere and NSA can still access it."
11 November 2015, 12:52 GMT
Where technology companies store data is less germane to preventing subversion of privacy than proper cybersecurity safeguards, high-grade encryption and oversight of those who possess network "keys" and have the ability to decrypt data, he pointed out.
Concerns over privacy in Europe arose in the wake of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealing the scope of US global surveillance. Documents leaked by Snowden showed that the NSA worked closely with Verizon, Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and other major tech and telecommunications companies.
