Germany has taken steps to prevent the NSA from listing into email service within Germany. Deutsche Telekom and United Internet claim that they have launched a super-secure email service that defeats the data sniffing effort of the NSA.

"Germans are deeply unsettled by the latest reports on the potential interception of communication data," René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, said in a statement.

"Our initiative is designed to counteract this concern and make email communication throughout Germany more secure in general. Protection of the private sphere is a valuable commodity."

"Alongside email encryption and the designation of secure e-mail addresses, a third key element relates to data processing and archiving, which is carried out in Germany. This ensures that Germany's stringent data privacy laws are complied with."

German broadcaster Deutsche Welle reports that email traffic sent via the new system will “be encrypted while in transit between the sender and receiver”. Access to third parties “is to be granted only in compliance with German law”.

Deutsche Welle's report confirms that the encryption will only apply to emails sent between German email providers T-Online, GMX and Web.de.

Emails sent to addresses on servers outside of the country will therefore be outside Germany's purview, and will not necessarily be automatically encrypted.