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Government Privacy Idle Your Rights Online

French Minister Sells Surveillance Legislation With Fake Benefits 51

Posted by samzenpus from the it-slices-it-dices dept.
Dangerous_Minds writes "The debate over LOPPSI 2, the legislation that would allow police to upload malware including Trojan Horses and key loggers to unwitting users without a court order, is heating up in France. Interior minister Brice Hortefeux told the media that LOPPSI 2 would stop the theft of smart phones because vendors would then be able to discontinue use of on-board SIM cards. Critics are pointing out that the theft of stolen portable phones is not covered under LOPPSI 2 in its current form. Others also point out that the discontinued use of SIM cards on stolen phones is already possible in France without the legislation. It's unclear if this is just a case of the minister not knowing what is actually in the legislation he is trying to pass."
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French Minister Sells Surveillance Legislation With Fake Benefits More

French Minister Sells Surveillance Legislation With Fake Benefits

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  • legislation they push?
    Or are the police possibly some other special interest groups pushing it?
    Politicians are yes men plain and simple.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by bersl2 ( 689221 )

      They're mostly authoritarians too, just like political executives. I'm sure he knows exactly what he's doing.

    • Re:Do politicians ever understand (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Kilrah_il ( 1692978 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @01:54AM (#34773988)

      Actually, it's quite sad that the option that the politician does not know what he is trying to pass is concievable. You would think that a professional would be well versed in the material he is working on. In the case of politicians (which are supposed to be our professional law-makers), we assume he does not have more than a passing aquaintance with the laws he is proposing. And the alternative is that he is blanatly lying. Amazing!
      Well, I must be new here... :)

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by arivanov ( 12034 )

      The problem is not so much with politicians. It is not the job of the politicos to be technically literate in every area of the human knowledge.

      The problem is mostly with people who advise them. These are the actual technically illiterate "yes men" in this and many other cases.

  • French minister Brice Hortefeux just lies (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 06, 2011 @01:57AM (#34773996)

    Brice Hortefeux is well known for not knowing what he is talking about and lying about facts on a daily basis.
    Note that he has been judged and condemned twice in the recent months (racism and presumption of innocence) so his lack of moral is not only notorious, it is also official.

    • Brice Hortefeux is well known for not knowing what he is talking about and lying about facts on a daily basis.

      Applies to others as well. Here is the link to The Dissident Frogman's take on French news agency AFP.com [thedissidentfrogman.com]. Or go directly to the hysterically funny, good-natured videotaped farce [youtube.com] he performed for the occasion.

      In summary:

      We can live with a dishonest press -- as long as we know it -- but ignorance from those who pretend to inform us?

    • Don't you French impeach politicians when they're convicted? Or, at the very least, pressure them to resign?

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by horza ( 87255 )

        Hardly. The current Minister for Defence Alain Juppé [wikipedia.org] has been convicted for fraud whilst holding public office 2004. The fact that the French elite is riddled with corruption (Sarkozy, Chirac, Mitterand were all mired in fraud scandals) is why corruption is seen as ok.

        Phillip.

  • "It's unclear if this is just a case of the minister not knowing what is actually in the legislation he is trying to pass."

    Is he trying to copy American legislators?

  • Allow me to be very clear here... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Noryungi ( 70322 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @02:26AM (#34774056) Homepage Journal

    The current French government has proposed, in the recent past, to track down migrants, both legal and illegal, through genetic testing.

    This is a government which was one of the very first to propose a "three strikes and you are out" regulation to "fight" so-called Internet piracy. Even though it was repeatedly told this was an unpopular measure and one that was pretty much unfeasible technically.

    This is a governement whose minister in charge of the "three strikes" law actually mentioned that Linux was not concerned by music or movie piracy because it had "high performance firewalls" [sic] such as "Open Office" [!!].

    Coming from that government, nothing surprises me anymore. Like many politicians, all you need to know is that they are lying every time they open their mouths and that whatever they say they will do, they probably won't.

  • It's unclear if this is just a case of the minister not knowing what is actually in the legislation he is trying to pass.

    Silly rabbit! If France is anything like the USA, having to actually read what his corporate sponsors email him before he cuts and pastes it into law would waste valuable schmoozing time.

  • "uploading malware" (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This is why I maintain a 100% strict policy that I, and only I, decide what runs on my computer.

    It's also a reason why I will never own a computer that I do not own. That means no iPads, no iPhones, no Kindles, and a ton of others.

    I take whatever technical steps are necessary for my computer to obey me and only me. Of course, someone with physical access could compromise it, but that means they have to have broken into my house, which isn't feasible on a wide scale. And someone could, in theory, compromi

  • I hate my country.

  • No incompetence there. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Mauvaisours ( 660152 ) on Thursday January 06, 2011 @05:04AM (#34774566)
    This is the same law that creates a blacklist of sites that must be blocked by ISPs, the list being secret, created by the interior minister, no appeal, no review.... And they claim it will stop pedo-pornography. They DO know what they're doing, they're just lying as usual.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jimicus ( 737525 )

      They DO know what they're doing, they're just lying as usual

      AFAICT, this is SOP for most western governments in the world today.

      It wouldn't surprise me if it had been SOP for most of the last couple of centuries, only now with things like the Internet it's becoming rather easier to spot.

  • ... the minister knowing exactly what he's trying to sell and hoping nobody will notice?
  • the cops around here, noble guys as they may be. cannot differentiate their mouse and keyboard. They paid for half my beer money when I was in college by downloading every type of crap imaginable and hiring me to repair/remove it.

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