Items tagged with France
Authorities in France are set to file a lawsuit against two of the biggest tech firms in the world: U.S.-based Google and Apple. The suit was announced by France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. The minister said that he had been made aware that both Google and Apple had imposed price and contract changes on developers who were selling software on Google Play and the App Store. "I will therefore be taking Google and Apple to the Paris commercial court for abusive trade practices," Le Maire said. "As powerful as they are, Google and Apple should not be able to treat our startups and our developers the way they currently do." After Le Maire stated that he intended to take the tech giants...
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If you've been following the tech world over the past two weeks, Apple hasn't had this much negative attention aimed at its products since the MacBook Pro battery life fiasco stirred by Consumer Reports, or perhaps the iPhone 4 "Antennagate". Apple's decision to throttle older iPhones with degraded batteries -- while not informing customers of the practice -- has invited swift backlash. Not surprisingly, some of Apple's competitors are latching on to its misery, while at the same time reassuring current -- and potentially, future -- customers that they would never use such secretive tactics. The Verge received statements from both HTC and Lenovo/Motorola on the issue. A representative for HTC...
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France and Germany are just two of the countries that are pressing mobile messaging companies to provide access to encrypted content during terrorist investigations. Both countries have experienced a series of deadly attacks and have been struggling to intercept messages from the Islamic State. France and Germany have turned to the European Commission to help push through favorable legislation. Terrorists are increasingly using encrypted messaging services instead of social media. ISIS is a major user of such apps. Russian app Telegram has been particularly reluctant to cooperate with European governments and is one of the targets of the proposed legislation. France and Germany are also looking...
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We reported earlier on France's demands to Microsoft with regards to bolstering its Windows 10 OS to better protect user data, and ultimately, their privacy. The fact that a watchdog would target Microsoft for collecting too much data probably strikes no one as a surprise, as that very complaint has been one shared by many users since the launch of Microsoft's latest OS. In the complaint, France's Chair of the National Data Protection Commission noted a couple of big issues, from the fact that the PIN code can be entered as many times as an attacker needs it to be and also that certain mechanisms of the operating system collect much more user data than is required for it to function. Microsoft...
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France's data privacy and protection watchdog has ordered Microsoft to put the brakes on what it deems is excessive user data collection in Windows 10. It also took issue with certain elements of Windows 10 that need to be more secure, such as entering the four-character PIN to log into the operating system, and privacy breaches stemming from the browser. The Chair of the National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) notified Microsoft of its decision following an investigation by a special contact group created by various authorities in the European Union. CNIL says the investigation "revealed many failures," not the least of which is the amount of data Microsoft collects through Windows 10, data...
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In the wake of Apple's fight with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) over certain iPhone security features, French parliament officials voted to penalize smartphone makers that refuse to hand over encrypted data in cases involving terrorism. The legislation is being introduced as an amendment to a penal reform bill. This is not something that is favored by the government. Instead, it was drafted by rightwing opposition. Though it ultimately passed a vote in France's lower parliament, it must also pass subsequent votes in the National Assembly and Senate before it becomes law. That's going to be tough to do, considering the bill's harsh penalties. As currently drafted, a private company...
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A restaurant owner in France sued a blogger for writing a negative review of her experience at his establishment and ultimately won because the review became too popular in Google's search results. Seriously. Apparently the judge in the case isn't familiar with this whole Internet thing and how it works, hence the goofy outcome. According to BBC News, the owner of II Giardino restaurant in the Aquitaine region of southwestern France sued Ms. Doudet for writing a blog posted title, "The Place to Avoid in Cap-Ferret: II Giardino." In the post, which no longer appears online, Ms. Doudet takes the restaurant to task for what she perceived as poor service and an unfriendly attitude on the part of...
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France's National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) has initiated proceedings against Google over privacy violations and has given the sultan of search three months to fix things or face fines. Should Google drag its feet, it faces a maximum fine of 150,000 euros (~$198,000), along with 300,000 euros (~$396,000) for a repeat offense. In addition, Google could face sanctions of up to 1 million euros (~$1.3 million) from other regulators. The issue at hand is that Google "prevents individuals from knowing how their personal data may be used and from controlling such use," which is a violation of the French Data Protection Act, Bloomberg reports. The privacy watchdog is seeking...
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The fight against illegal file sharing sites took a trip to France to this week as the alleged men in charge of one of France's most popular file sharing links forums have all been arrested. The three men accused of copyright shenanigans ran a site known as Liberty Land, which has been in operation since 2009 and was currently serving around 800,000 members at the time it was shut down. If convicted, the three men, none of which are older than 30, could face sentences of up to 5 years behind bars and fines of $700,000. Liberty Land falls into France's top 200 sites and contains some 30,000 links to albums and 100,000 links to movies and TV shows. The links direct users to third-party downloading...
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A French court has convicted Google and CEO Eric Schmidt for defamation. The ruling came as a result of Google's Suggest function, which brought up terms such as "rapist" and "satanist" when people Googled the plaintiff's name. The man who filed the lawsuit had been previously convicted of “corruption of a minor.” However, the case is under appeal, meaning it's not final. The man discovered the results on entering his name in a Google search. The Suggest function does what it sounds like, suggests additional terms for the searcher. The ruling was made by the Paris high court on Sept. 8. Legalis.net, an aggregator of French legal decisions, has the decision in full. The ruling (translated)...
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With the World Cup over and the sound of vuvuzelas thankfully fading away, you might think it's time for business as usual to begin again. Toshiba, however, appears hooked on the excitement, fun, and motonous buzzing a PR crisis can deliver. Back in early June, the company ran a series of ads in Germany, England, Portugal, Italy, and Spain. The terms were (seemingly) simple: Buy a Toshiba product prior to the end of the world cup, and if your team won it all, Toshiba would refund your purchase. According to our crack team of translators, if Team Red wins, you win. Provided you used your Toshiba decoder ring to find the hidden information underneath the bathmat in your mother's apartment....
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Finland's Ministry of Transport and Communications has made 1 mbps broadband access a legal right, according to YLE, the country's national broadcasting company. This makes Finland the first country to take this step. Even better, 1 mbps access is just an intermediary step. Earlier, Finland had set a goal of 2015 for 100 mbps broadband access as a legal right. The access to 1 mbps broadband will become effective in July of 2010. Interestingly, some countries have already made Internet access a human right, but Finland is the first to make it a legal one. Some may pooh-pooh this, as Finland has a population of about 5.3 million. America has cities larger than that. But it begs the question:...
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Microsoft, apparently not satisfied with its upcoming retail stores, is opening a cafe in Paris, France. To be exact, a Windows 7 cafe, to help launch its new operating system. The Windows Cafe will open on Oct. 22nd, the day Windows 7 launches, at 47 Boulevard Sebastopol. The Cafe will reportedly have plenty of Microsoft stuff to play with (PCs, Xboxes, mobile devices), but it's not one of Microsoft's retail stores, so you'll only be able to buy coffee / snacks there. Microsoft told C|Net: "This initiative expresses our intention to meet with the general public and show the new Windows experiences on PC, mobile and on the Internet. People will be able to discover Windows 7, the Windows phones...
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The U.K. has joined France in trying to crack down on illegal downloading by instituting a policy whereby consumers found to repeatedly illegally download copyrighted material would have their Internet access suspended. This has commonly been called a "three strikes" policy, as usually the proposal is to give the offender three chances before suspending their access. Earlier, the U.K. had planned to restrict broadband speed, not total access. While that provision remains under the new proposal, it has been joined by a new provision which includes the possibility of blocking access completely. The measure will come up for a vote in Parliament in November. If passed, the U.K. would join France...
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