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from the when-you-can't-trust-your-friends dept.
The French government is looking to move officials away from popular apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram -- even if the French president likes using them.
As Facebook continues to reel from the Cambridge Analytica saga, the French government is taking precautions against the social media behemoth's WhatsApp service.
The French government is developing its own encrypted messaging service, Reuters reported Monday. The goal is to alleviate concerns about privacy breaches, which could result in the leaking of private conversations between top officials to foreign parties.
The French government's privacy concerns come amid a backlash against Facebook following a massive data leak concerning millions of users. WhatsApp, which provides encrypted messaging services, is owned by Facebook and shares user information with its parent company -- something that hasn't sat well with privacy regulators.
In December 2016, the European Union expressed concerns over Facebook's access to WhatsApp users' data. Just a month later, the popular social messaging platform was sued in German court over the issue, while French privacy watchdog CNIL warned WhatsApp in the same year to stop sharing user data with Facebook or risk a fine. Last month, Facebook agreed not to access any data from WhatsApp until its activities are considered compliant with a Europe-wide General Data Protection Regulation expected in May.
[...] While few details are available on the French-built messaging service, a ministry spokeswoman told Reuters the app is being designed by a "state-employed developer" and tested by "about 20 officials and top civil servants." It is hoped that the use of this app will become mandatory across the government by this summer before being rolled out to all French citizens, she added.
CNET has reached out to the French government for a comment.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:14PM (20 children)
I mean who wouldn't trust the same guys who are saying backdoors can be perfectly secure to handle their private messages?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:17PM (18 children)
Backup just in case someone doesn't believe you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_disclosure_law#France [wikipedia.org]
Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law [techcrunch.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:48PM (17 children)
Considering that their governments are already omnipresent, and that nobody is allowed to forget what happened in WW2 (oversight of databases is in the law), most Europeans would probably prefer a government-sponsored not-perfectly-private local messaging with strong privacy rules, over some Californian guys with no ethics. Especially in the Trump Era.
The initial hurdle of practicality and critical mass would be the main problem, followed closely by stupid arbitrary usage restrictions.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:57PM (13 children)
Yeah, they're used to being subjects rather than citizens. It's just how things have been for a hell of a long time. Me, I prefer to be screwed by guys who don't have a standing army and thus the ability to say "Yeah, we stuffed it right up your ass. And we're going to do it next week too. And there's fuck all you can do about it.".
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Informative) by bob_super on Tuesday April 17 2018, @10:08PM (10 children)
> And there's fuck all you can do about it.
Funny that, I'm pretty sure the French just kicked their two incumbent biggest parties to the curb, and are already busy demonstrating and striking against the changes the newly installed guys are trying to vote in.
The Italians, the Greek and the Brits have also been annoying their politicians, and the Czech and Polish have been pissing off Brussels.
Don't project.
(Score: 0, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 17 2018, @10:11PM (8 children)
Man, if you wanna buy that the new boss is any different than the old boss, go for it. It's astonishingly foolish but more power to you.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @11:23PM
Californians, TMB, there were Californians.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Tuesday April 17 2018, @11:57PM (6 children)
And the reason for that is idiots who either:
1. Don't vote (and tell others not to vote) or
2. Vote for the dogmatic strong-man who promises to fix everything if they could just get rid of those pesky limits on his power.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 4, Interesting) by edIII on Wednesday April 18 2018, @01:00AM (5 children)
Voting is pointless. TMB just pointed out reality. It DOES NOT MATTER who you elect! It never does. You can take the cleanest, most honest, most ethical, most empathetic man or woman, and 10 minutes after being in office, they will deeply fuck and screw you.
Obama was supposed to be the greatest hope for change that we've had since probably Lincoln, or the New Deal. Except, this time, he was really for us. A man of the people, to fight for the people.
He wasn't, and was instantly tainted the moment he assumed office. Strange how those campaign promises of holding AT&T's executives' feet to the fire for betraying the rest of us. With the NSA's help no less. Did he do ONE thing about AT&T and our loss of privacy? Nope, not a fucking thing. In fact, he turned out to be the greatest campaigner for mass surveillance the world has ever seen. More of our freedoms, civil liberties, and the rest of our hope, died with that man's betrayal of us.
So please. Go ahead and blow smoke up our asses of how voting has ever helped us one fucking time. By "us", I mean the poor and middle class. Of which, statistics show that you have your head firmly lodged up your ass about politics and the hoi polloi.
Voting will never make a difference. Rising up in revolution, surprisingly, actually does make a substantive difference you can quantify. It's hard for the ruling classes to keep fucking with you, when their busy being beheaded at the guillotines.
Yeah. Voting. What a fucking laugh. Yet, you call us idiots. What do you call people that do the same thing every time, expecting it to be different each time? That's what voting is, dude. Get the fucking hint.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 18 2018, @04:16AM (1 child)
That's nonsense nor is that quality of person necessarily the best choice for the job. Sometimes you need to be screwed badly now rather than screwed worse later. What isn't nonsense is our poor ability, collectively to determine the quality of our public figures.
Who knew that hype wasn't reality? Who knew? It's not even remotely relevant to the first paragraph because Obama, well before he did whatever he did as president, had shown numerous signs of not being the "cleanest, most honest, most ethical, most empathetic man or woman", much less being a good choice for US president.
If you keep voting for shit, then of course, it's not going to make a difference.
Sure, a shittier society.
But it's quite easy for them to keep fucking with you when they're the ones pulling the rope on those guillotines.
Funny how you can take voting, which works without a lot of fuss, and then propose, not even remotely sarcastically, to replace it with your latest snuff fantasy that won't work at all (and has a long, long track record of not working at all), much less without a lot of fuss.
I can name several. For example, the US has on numerous occasions voted in stealth creationism groups for school boards and similar public education political committees. Invariably, those people get voted out once they show their colors. Seriously, I have yet to hear of an example where such an elected group has survived a future electoral challenge. So yes, the electorate is poor at determining good choices (particularly upon initial inspection) and yes, voting is not perfect, but they usually will fix obvious mistakes unless the other options are worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:42PM
"Who knew that hype wasn't reality? Who knew?"
anyone with half a brain? they pick some no name politician from one of the most politically corrupt places in the country and promote the ever loving shit out of him and retarded ass slaves take him seriously. you people are beyond help.
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Wednesday April 18 2018, @04:18AM (1 child)
Yes, you are an idiot.
An idiot who can't see that things can and will get worse than they are today while too many people think like you.
An idiot who thinks that the world is black and white, instead of shades of gray. Voting may not have the effect that I would hope, but, yes, it does have some effect.
You are truly the idiot.
Actually, I may be an idiot also. Why am I wasting my time reading and posting on SN? The stories are frequently old and the popular discussions are dominated by people whose political development stopped when they were about 15. So, shame on me.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pTamok on Wednesday April 18 2018, @08:36AM
There's an old saying attributed to someone regarded as an exemplar of good judgement that applies here:
אַל־תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתֹּ֑ו פֶּֽן־תִּשְׁוֶה־לֹּ֥ו גַם־אָֽתָּה׃
It has been loosely translated into English and re-attributed to many people since. A good recent one is "Don’t argue with idiots because they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.", or, more briefly, "Don't feed the trolls."
If you have a point to make, make it clearly and succinctly, and don't worry about rebutting fools. Others will read your contribution and evaluate it on its merits. Debating 'talking points' rarely encourages depth of thinking, whereas a well-constructed in-depth argument takes time to put across and be understood. Pithy sentences play well, but are mostly intellectual froth encouraging superficiality.
Thoughtful, well-considered posts make this place worth coming to. If you produce them, others are encouraged to so the same.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:25AM
You are one fucking idiot. You are one of the reasons we have fucked up Trump in the Whitehouse or BREXIT. And if you believe that Syria is better outcome than voting, then you are even more stupid than a fucking idiot.
Ok, so you are stupider than a fucking idiot. Go to Syria and enjoy. And then you can enjoy getting the "ruling class" dropping nerve gas on your ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:38PM
macron? are you fucking serious?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @10:16PM
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha, this is what Americans actually believe!
You're all proletariat. Your citizenship means nothing. Your rights mean nothing. You're just a meat puppet for the elites. Your daughter is a fucktoys for the elites.
Now go watch some more liberal capitalist propaganda. "Liberal", "conservative", literally matter cause if it comes out of a TV it's all the same shit.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday April 17 2018, @11:47PM
guys who don't have a standing army
Why would they when they can just use ours, at our expense?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 18 2018, @12:34AM (2 children)
Would they prefer the actual unaccountable, inefficient government program with the same lack of ethics versus someone you can sue?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday April 18 2018, @06:50AM (1 child)
Sue a corporation and you'll be bankrupt your whole life.
Vote out a govt (in Europe it does happen, you know?) and at least you have a chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 18 2018, @11:09AM
Doesn't happen in practice. There are plenty of successful examples of such lawsuits. Also, you don't get the point of bankruptcy. It is never a permanent thing. Sure, it can be difficult to recover from when it happens due to long term loss of ability to borrow, but you don't lose your ability to earn and save afterward.
What does a "govt" have to do with this service? You still can't sue it. You still can't vote it out.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 17 2018, @09:26PM
IIRC, encryption was classed as munition in France until recently (perhaps it still is?). I propose some names for this new service; "porte de derrière", "tache sur les sous-vêtements de la liberté" or "nous accueillons à nouveau le fascisme".