Two of Germany’s largest internet service providers (ISPs) haved started to encrypt emails in response to revelations surrounding the NSA and its PRISM programme.
Customers using Deutsche Telekom’s T-Online service and United Internet’s GMX and WEB.DE services will have SSL turned on by default, while data from these messages will be processed and stored exclusively on German servers.
Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said:"Our initiative is designed to counteract this concern and make e-mail communication throughout Germany more secure in general. Protection of the private sphere is a valuable commodity."
The partners will transport SSL-encrypted e-mails from early 2014 to ensure secure data traffic over all of their transmission paths.
United Internet CEO Ralph Dommermuth said:"’E-mail made in Germany’ is open to other providers who commit to the standards set out by our initiative.
"Alongside e-mail encryption and the designation of secure e-mail addresses, a third key element relates to data processing and archiving, which is carried out in Germany.
"This ensures that Germany’s stringent data privacy laws are complied with."
