STOP using Google and Facebook if you fear US spying, says Germany

Stay off US websites if you don't want to be spied on, says German minister

Spoke in the wake of revelations the NSA have been 'spying' on US citizens



If you are worried about the US spying on you, you need to stop using Google and Facebook, Germany's top security official has warned.

Internet users who fear their data is being intercepted by U.S. intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency's should stay away from American websites run through American servers, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said.

Leaked revelations about the NSA’s wholesale information on foreign web users has prompted outrage in Europe and calls for tighter international rules on data protection.

Don't Google me: Those afraid of being spied on online should stay away from US websites, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich says

Leaks by Edward Snowden, a former NSA systems analyst, have revealed the NSA's sweeping data collection of U.S. phone records and some Internet traffic.

According to U.S. intelligence officials, the programs target foreigners and terrorist suspects mostly overseas.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday that ‘whoever fears their communication is being intercepted in any way should use services that don't go through American servers.’

Friedrich says 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.

Leak: Whistleblower Edward Snowden, revealed that the US National Security Agency collected date of phone records and some Internet traffic of average citizens

In the wake of the NSA scandal, Friedrich defended the intelligence unit's methods against German criticism.

In an interview with Welt am Sontag the Interior minister said that that turning against the US is 'not how you deal with friends who are in the fight against terrorism, our most important partners'

Meanwhile, Snowden is now running out of countries that will take him in - a growing list have either denied his request for asylum or insisted that he make an application on their soil.

Earlier today Bolivia's president Evo Morales attacked US 'aggression' after his plane was rerouted last night amid suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board.