Angela Merkel suggests building secure European web to bypass US snooping

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed building a secure European communications network which would prevent emails and internet data passing through the United States.

Mrs Merkel’s follows a series of revelations about the extent of US and UK snooping on electronic and voice communications.

US whistleblower Edward Snowden has suggested that the mobile phones of Mrs Merkel and other US allies had been monitored by American agencies.

Europe’s stricter privacy laws mean keeping data away from US servers would give web users greater protection.

In her weekly podcast the Chancellor said she would speak with French President Francois Hollande about building “a communication network inside Europe” which would “offer security for our citizens, so that one shouldn’t have to send emails and other information across the Atlantic.”