The new initiative, prompted by Germany's revelation that Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone was being monitored, may struggle to succeed beyond being seen as a mere marketing ploy. Interviews with telecom and internet experts suggest that the initiative will not be effective for Germans accessing websites hosted on servers abroad, such as Facebook or Google. Additionally, Deutsche Telekom may face challenges in convincing rival broadband groups to cooperate due to their reluctance to share network information. Furthermore, the initiative goes against the current structure of the Internet, where global traffic flows freely between networks without regard for national borders. Security researcher Dan Kaminsky warns that if more countries isolate themselves online, it could lead to the fragmentation of the Internet, jeopardizing its openness and efficiency which have been key drivers of economic growth. In countries like China and Iran, governments control internet traffic by blocking certain websites and setting up firewalls to restrict access to content. Torsten Gerpott, a business and telecoms professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, noted that it is unprecedented for the internet traffic of a developed country to bypass the servers of another country. Deutsche Telekom, partially owned by the government, has initiated measures to provide customers with more options, including encrypting email and routing traffic through domestic servers. This move has been praised as a positive step, although some view it as a public relations strategy. The issue of government surveillance is a sensitive topic in Germany due to strict privacy laws and memories of past eavesdropping by the Stasi secret police. Chancellor Merkel has called for a "no-spying" agreement with the US, which was discussed at a European summit. However, experts believe that the rhetoric surrounding the issue may not lead to significant practical changes. Deutsche Telekom's project to keep internet traffic within Germany may face challenges due to their preference for paid agreements rather than free ones. According to Thomas Kremer, the executive responsible for data privacy and legal matters at the German operator, it is currently more cost-effective or even free for German internet traffic to pass through London or Amsterdam, where it may be vulnerable to interception by foreign spies. Kremer stated that in order to establish a national routing system, the group needs to enter into connection agreements with three additional operators. He also mentioned the possibility of a legislative solution if this does not happen. Kremer emphasized that traffic should no longer be directed through other countries when both the sender and receiver are located within the Schengen area or in Germany. Telefonica Germany has confirmed that they are in early discussions with other groups regarding national routing. A Vodafone spokesperson stated that they are currently assessing the Deutsche Telekom proposal to determine if and how it should be implemented. Despite Deutsche Telekom's claim to be a trustworthy guardian of user data, their history with privacy has been inconsistent. In 2008, an incident known as Telekomgate involved Klaus Trzeschan, a security manager at the company, being sentenced to three and a half years in prison for illegally monitoring phone calls of the firm's executives, board members, and journalists. A Deutsche Telekom representative cited this incident as the catalyst for the company's intensified focus on privacy and security measures in recent years, claiming that they are now the industry leader in earning customer trust. Data centers play a crucial role in directing online traffic, with routers and switches being programmed to determine the routes data travels. Popular online services often rely on large data centers located in strategic areas for factors such as cheap power, cool climates, and high-speed broadband networks. For example, a Munich resident chatting with a friend in Berlin on Facebook may have their data routed through one of the company's massive data centers thousands of kilometers away in places like Oregon, North Carolina, or Sweden. European users may have their profiles stored in different data centers, while various functions of the website are distributed among centers for efficiency. Similarly, emails sent between two German residents using Google's Gmail may be routed through data centers in Finland, Belgium, or Ireland. The only way to change this situation would be for Germany to mandate that websites be hosted locally, a significant step that experts believe German leaders have not yet supported. Deutsche Telekom has not stated whether they would advocate for this approach. In response to reports of U.S. spying, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is proposing legislation that would require internet companies like Google and Facebook to store data collected in the country. Another possibility is for European leaders to strengthen a new data-privacy law that has been in development for nearly two years. The European Parliament recently endorsed a stricter version of the law, but it still needs approval from member states. France and Germany have the potential to persuade member states to advance discussions in order to finalize the new data regulations by 2015. According to Deutsche Telekom's Kremer, the new legislation could be beneficial in ensuring that customers can freely access any internet services while also prioritizing safety.