As details continue to emerge surrounding the U.S. government’s alleged widespread surveillance programs, European officials are airing their concerns about setting stricter privacy controls and warning organizations to steer away from U.S.-based service companies.

Germany’s Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, the country’s top security official, is the latest European official to voice security concerns in the wake of claims that the U.S. has apparently been spying on its own citizens by tapping into the servers of technology giants including Google (News - Alert), Apple and Facebook. 


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While employed as a contractor for Booz Allen, whistleblower Edward Snowden, who worked within the NSA at the Kunia Regional SIGINT Operations Center in Hawaii, claims that he took the job for the specific purpose of discovering and leaking information about the NSA’s worldwide surveillance activities, including the PRISM program in the U.S. and the Tempora program with the British Government Communication Headquarters.

PRISM, which is an acronym for “Planning Tool for Resource Integration, Synchronization and Management,” is a computer program developed by the NSA to collect and analyze all of the data that the NSA has requested from Internet companies.

“Whoever fears their communication is being intercepted in any way should use services that don’t go through American servers,” Hans-Friedrich told the Associated Press (News - Alert).

He also said German officials are in touch with their U.S. counterparts “on all levels” and a delegation is scheduled to fly to Washington next week to discuss the claims that ordinary citizens – and even European diplomats – were being spied upon by the NSA.

Some consider these fighting words, however, following these shots from across the bow, InfoWorld’s David Linthicum recently said that the privacy wars in the cloud have yet to be fought, both in the U.S. and in Europe.

“This battle will likely occur in courtrooms and in government regulatory agencies,” Linthicum said in a blog post.

Such a war will likely be problematic for major tech companies with a global presence trying to gain stronger positions in the growing cloud computing market.

In related news, European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes said recently that there is a clear need for a transparent legal framework around cloud computing in Europe.

“That would be a big step forward to rebuilding essential trust,” she said, noting that the tremendous benefits of cloud computing dictate a restoration of trust in the cloud.