Compliance Management, Privacy

German govt., lower parliament drop Verizon over spying

After documents disclosed by Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government spied on Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Bundestag lower house of parliament has said it will cut ties with Verizon, according to a Friday report from Reuters.

The decision comes just a day after the country's government, noting that the Snowden revelations illuminated disturbing ties between intelligence agencies and companies, said it would not renew its Verizon contract. The Bundestag's contract with the American wireless firm was set to expire at the end of the year, but the parliamentary body's action will bring it to an end “as soon as possible,” a government spokesperson said, according to the report.

Verizon's services will be replaced by those of Deutsche Telekom AG DTEGn.DE, which already handles highly sensitive information for the government, intelligence agencies and the country's ministries.

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