German phone company rocked by spying scandal

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

BERLIN (AFP) — Former telecoms monopoly Deutsche Telekom over the weekend became the latest German firm to be rocked by revelations of spying on its employees.

Deutsche Telekom, Europe's biggest phone company, confirmed on Saturday allegations in Spiegel magazine that it hired an outside firm to track hundreds of thousands of phone calls by senior executives and journalists in 2005-6.

It denied that the Berlin consultancy firm listened to the conversations, instead merely logging details on who phoned whom as well as the time and duration of the calls.

Spiegel said that "Operation Clipper" and "Operation Rheingold" were set up in order to identify the source of leaks of sensitive financial information to financial journalists.

Chief executive Rene...