Electronic surveillance

World's Biggest Internet Hub Sues German Government Over Surveillance

The operator of the world’s largest Internet exchange point, De-Cix, is suing the German government in an attempt to stop mass surveillance by the country’s spies.

Internet exchange points are the hubs where the Internet’s core lines cross paths, so information can flow from anywhere to anywhere. De-Cix’s main hub is in Frankfurt, Germany, and it is the largest of its kind in the world.

On Friday, De-Cix said it was pushing back against the legal orders it receives from the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, for short) that force it to allow the mass monitoring of communications flowing through its Frankfurt Internet exchange point.