New German Counter-Espionage Move

Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems information technology unit is pushing regulators to introduce a certificate for German or European cloud operators to help companies guard data from the U.S. government.

As we mentioned previously, Facebook 'likes' have been banned in Germany under "data protection" issues (secretly meaning counter-espionage, the CIA part-funded Facebook), whilst German firms such as Siemens are gaining a frightening level of penetration of other country's infastructure (read Siemens Espionage).

Bearing in mind the record-breaking level of corruption Siemens has shown, and the commuter tracking, submarine building, birth certificate and passport montoring infiltration of Britain, any retaliatory behaviour against the Fatherland is clearly Verboten!

T-Systems plans to lure customers by emphasizing the security of its servers, over which it delivers its Internet- accessed computing services, Reinhard Clemens, the division’s chief executive officer, told reporters in Bonn on Sept. 12. This includes shielding clients from government access such as that allowed by the U.S. Patriot Act, he said.

“The Americans say that no matter what happens I’ll release the data to the government if I’m forced to do so, from anywhere in the world,’” Clemens said. “Certain German companies don’t want others to access their systems. That’s why we’re well-positioned if we can say we’re a European provider in a European legal sphere and no American can get to them.”

Deutsche Telekom and other telecommunications companies are promoting cloud-computing offerings as a safe way for businesses to outsource their data centers. A government seal may fence off the cloud offerings of T-Systems and European competitors such as Atos SA and Cap Gemini SA and give them an advantage over U.S rivals such as Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and IBM.

“A German cloud” would be a “safe cloud,” Clemens said.

In May 2008, charges were filed against Deutsche Telekom for allegedly abusing call data to snoop on supervisory board members and journalists. In October 2008 the company confirmed that personal information of 17 million mobile phone customers had been copied.

Remember that the German State owns 32% of Deutsche Telekom.