How do you stop US spying? Go back to typewriter, says German politician

​If you know you are being spied on, what do you do?

Well, German politicians are considering going old school by returning to manual typewriters for sensitive documents.

In an interview with the TV programme Morgenmagazin, the head of the parliamentary inquiry into US spying in Germany said that the government is seriously considering a low-tech solution to the espionage problem.

When the interviewer asks Patrick Sensburg if he was "considering typewriters" on Monday night, he said: "As a matter of fact, we have - and not electronic models either."

"Really?" asked the surprised interviewer. Sensburg responded: "Yes, no joke."

His statement comes one week after Germany asked the CIA's station chief to leave the country after an ongoing spy scandal in which they uncovered two cases of alleged American spying.

Not a feasible solution

But other politicians aren't as keen on the typewriter solution. 

Christian Flisek, who's also on the committee, said: "This call for mechanical typewriters is making our work sound ridiculous. We live in the 21st century, where many people communicate predominantly by digital means.

"Effective counter-espionage works digitally too. The idea that we can protect people from surveillance by dragging them back to the typewriter is absurd."

Source: The Guardian, Washington Post