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French Intelligence Bill: 5 Web Hosting Providers Threaten To Leave the Country

albert555 (3986073) writes Five popular French web hosting providers, including Gandi and OVH, said on Thursday that the new French intelligence bill might push them to leave the country (French) in order not to lose their customers. The five companies are protesting against the "real-time capture of data connection" and their analysis by the intelligence services using "+black boxes+ with blurred lines". The web hosting providers believe that this project "will not reach its goal and will potentially put every French citizen under surveillance, that will result in the destruction of a major segment of the economy of our country," by pushing their customers to turn to other less intrusive territories. If the bill is passed as it is, "we have to move our infrastructure, our investments and our employees where our customers want to work with us". The companies have provided a listing of dozen cities where they "will suppress jobs instead of creating new ones."; "These are thousands of jobs (...) that startups and large companies will also create elsewhere," they add. The press release was addressed to the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, and was co-signed by Gandu, OVH, IDS, Ikoula and Lomaco.

105 comments

  1. Re:Figures by LVSlushdat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cowardly French companies are running away!

    Don't blame them a bit.. It's not gonna be long before that starts happening in the USA... if it hasn't already...

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
  2. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, only in the "land of the brave" citizens are proud government slaves.

  3. Re:Figures by jawtheshark · · Score: 2

    Actually, you could see it as fighting: They put pressure on their government, which is one of the ways companies can yield power over governments. So, yes, they will "run away", but not without making a point first.

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
  4. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As opposed to the American ones that are whores of their governemt and sell out their customers ?

  5. Why do they not realize? by whoever57 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why do the policiians not realize that the tools they are giving can and will be misused and abused and that those same politicians are very likely to be the targets of that misuse?

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:Why do they not realize? by turbidostato · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Why do the policiians not realize that the tools they are giving can and will be misused"

      They fully know the tools will be misused. It's only they believe they can misuse them for their benefit.

      "and that those same politicians are very likely to be the targets of that misuse?"

      See above.

    2. Re:Why do they not realize? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Same reason no bank robber ponders the implications of getting caught. That't not part of the plan. They have enough hubris to think of themselves infallible and don't deem it possible that their master plan could backfire.

      For reference, see Nazi Germany and their zeal for recording pretty much any and every single one of their crimes.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Why do they not realize? by X0563511 · · Score: 2

      Nazi Germany and their zeal for recording pretty much any and every single one of their crimes.

      They thought they were Right, and so they were just recording history.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    4. Re:Why do they not realize? by myowntrueself · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nazi Germany and their zeal for recording pretty much any and every single one of their crimes.

      They thought they were Right, and so they were just recording history.

      Israel certainly learned from the mistakes of the Nazis.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    5. Re:Why do they not realize? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So do those politicians.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    6. Re:Why do they not realize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How naive of you... 33 years ago, France President, Mitterand constituted a rogue intelligence unit (Cellule de l'elysee) headed by Prouteau. They are quite notorious for:
        * tapping phones of journalists, lawyers, actors, policemen, politicians
        * framing the irish of Vincennes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_of_Vincennes)

      In the case of the Irish of Vincennes, Lieutnant-colonel Beau of the gendarmerie testified that the evidence, explosives and guns were planted by Prouteau. Who got convicted? Who got his phone illegally tapped? Who lost his job? I concede that Prouteau was later convicted for wiretap to a lesser sentence...

      France is a police state. A soft one, still a police state.

    7. Re:Why do they not realize? by sociocapitalist · · Score: 2

      Nazi Germany and their zeal for recording pretty much any and every single one of their crimes.

      They thought they were Right, and so they were just recording history.

      Israel certainly learned from the mistakes of the Nazis.

      They don't record their crimes?

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    8. Re:Why do they not realize? by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      Nazi Germany and their zeal for recording pretty much any and every single one of their crimes.

      They thought they were Right, and so they were just recording history.

      Israel certainly learned from the mistakes of the Nazis.

      They don't record their crimes?

      How can it be possible to commit genocide against a people who don't even exist? There isn't even a crime to record.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  6. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    That's different, because it's patriotic.

  7. Re:Figures by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

    What are you doing in England, then?

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  8. you can use that letter as weapon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Man, you can use that letter against the borg... To make them sleep while they are reading it.

    Which idiot believes that lame story? Its only for the PR, no company will move. Its like that ms thingy: make some pseudo opposition while figuring out how to best sell the user's data behind the curtains.

    1. Re:you can use that letter as weapon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course they'll move if they really start losing their customers. Their alternative would be to shut their doors. If, however, they are bluffing and the government calls them on it they will stay where they are.

    2. Re:you can use that letter as weapon by Noryungi · · Score: 1

      These companies already have a sgnificant presence (data centers) in other european countries.

      There are countries, in Europe, that protect their citizen's privacy a lot better than France. Germany comes to mind, for instance.

      Plus, apart from the existing infrastructure, nothing is going to prevent these companies from moving -- a data center is a data center, anywhere in the world.

      --
      The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  9. Re:Figures by tomxor · · Score: 1

    Not sure which provider your comment is aimed at but i use gandi and there are no cloud server options for the UK.

  10. Just like all countries are now running away from by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just like all countries are now running away from deals with American businesses because of NSA backdoors...

  11. Re:Figures by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

    This has been happening for a while now. I'm Canadian and I stopped using USA-based hosts almost a decade ago.

  12. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    correction:
    that's land of the free and home of the slaves

  13. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Poor defenseless counties which are killing each other in the name religion. Nice straw man there you coward.

  14. Vs by DrunkenTerror · · Score: 1

    Black Box Blurred Lines.

    I think I prefer the former.

  15. Re:Figures by SuricouRaven · · Score: 1

    I use the UK to annoy the US. We had a shorter copyright term for music here (Recently extended, so nothing more expiring for twenty years) than in the US, so I put up a big collection of public-domain-in-the-UK music. Hosted in the UK, by a UK company, serving a UK citizen. I've not recieved any legal threats yet.

    I put up some adverts just to see what sort of money it would make. Not a lot: In the year or so it's been up, I made about three quid.

  16. France is the new Muricka by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Soon there will be a Walmart in every town, a Starbucks on every street corner and the police will stop and frisk minorities with bullets.

  17. Re:Figures by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

    At this point, the only real option is to assume that all traffic on the public internet is being monitored by at least one government, if not more. Good reason to use encryption - and don't store anything confidential unencrypted on a computer you have not got physical control over.

  18. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are to compete with China in web censorship. For the kids!

  19. Re:Figures by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    Funny the French are cowards for not supporting the Iraq war. How unpatriotic and muslim loving ...

    But today seems like the French had a brain while the Americans were flying their flag singing patriotism under the scope of insane nationalism and didn't even realize they were manipulated.

  20. French republic vs monarchy ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

    It's only a democratic country because there can vote for the king, but the king choose the ministers and the ministers can do anything. The parliament is a joke to keep some credibility that some discussion exists. The citizen are left with there problems and never take seriously.

    1. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      It's only a democratic country because there can vote for the king, but the king choose the ministers and the ministers can do anything. The parliament is a joke to keep some credibility that some discussion exists. The citizen are left with there problems and never take seriously.

      The french president have had a lot of power since thr 50s, but appointing the government (or administration as Americans put is) is alwsys the primary responsibility of the head of government. The same happens in all states. Prime ministers to presidents all do that.

    2. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

      The same happens in all states. Prime ministers to presidents all do that.

      Not in Switzerland for example.

      Here the parliament (directly elected by the citizens) elect the Federal Council where each of this 7 members act as minister. There is no upper layer like prime minister or formal president (there is an annually elected president into the Federal Council, but this is strictly honorific without any added power). So each leading parties are fully represented in every politic layer up to the head of state, making a lot of conflict useless. The Federal Council is required to act as a single body after there have voted on a decision. Every decision can be changed back by citizens using referendum and every change to the constitution require a mandatory referendum, so the parliament and the Federal Council cannot act against the citizen wishes. In addition citizens can force a change in the constitution using the popular initiative. Here every citizens vote on a lot of important subjects many times per years making everyone more concerned about the politic of the country.

      Exactly the contrary of the French citizens where there live in a modern kind of monarchy from a small self proclaimed elites that fight to place there favorite king at the most powerful place to mainly serve there own interest. I really hope that there will quickly evolve to something better.

    3. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Elect yes. But appoint? No, how would a group appoint. The way it works in most countries is that the head of government appoints and the parliament approves.

    4. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by rainer_d · · Score: 1
      I had to chuckle about your last sentence.

      That kind of optimism is rare.

      Also, unfortunately, totally unfounded.
      I live in Switzerland (but I'm not Swiss, so I can't vote (well, it turned out I can vote on things that my church puts up for vote) and the way things (esp. the tax-system) are set up here is very interesting. I'm not sure if a larger (population and land-area wise) state like the US or Germany (or even Russia) could be governed like Switzerland. But as nobody has tried, nobody can be sure it wouldn't work ;-)

      --
      Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
    5. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

      The citizens vote to elect the two parliament chambers members, representing proportionally the states and the peoples. Then the parliament (all members of the two chambers) vote to appoint the 7 Federal Council members. There can appoint any citizen of the country even it's not a candidate. As strange as it look like, yes this has happened: a citizen without high view on the politic can be boosted up to the highest level in a few hours. The main goal is to form a stable Federal Council with a proportional diversity of the leading parties. Then 7 Federal Council members decide by them self there minister assignation between them.

    6. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      The citizens vote to elect the two parliament chambers members, representing proportionally the states and the peoples. Then the parliament (all members of the two chambers) vote to appoint the 7 Federal Council members. There can appoint any citizen of the country even it's not a candidate. As strange as it look like, yes this has happened: a citizen without high view on the politic can be boosted up to the highest level in a few hours. The main goal is to form a stable Federal Council with a proportional diversity of the leading parties. Then 7 Federal Council members decide by them self there minister assignation between them.

      That is how democracy works. That is no different from any other country in Europe. You still need to get around the problem of selecting a person the parliament can vote on. They can't vote on everybody.

    7. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

      The Swiss constitution was mainly setup after the civil war of 1847. At that time enough politics worked seriously together to compare various existing foreign constitutions. The French Revolution and the USA constitution played a major role in the redaction of the first text. The major Swiss ingredient was to introduce a proportional representation of the parties up to the head of state. A new version of the constitution adjusted many parameters and introduced the referendum, and the version just after introduced the popular initiative.

      It was a constructive work to fix the problems found in the early versions. It mainly work because of the first decision of making a proportional head of state. Without this feature, too many effort is lost by the parties to place there members on the most powerful place, making them willing to promise the impossible to take more vote: there are basically required to lie and to play on the emotional level. And when you play with lie and emotion, you get something unmanageable that split the citizens mostly between two main parties that constantly fight each at the other. Whenever the party that win, the system mostly grant to have as close as possible a rate of half of citizen frustrated by the result of the vote. By contrast the Swiss political system limit the possibility that a significant opposition exists because it will be integrated early in the government.

      The argument that this work only because this is a small country have no merit. The Switzerland with 26 strong sates with each there own constitution, and 4 official languages, is used at a bigger scale than in many bigger countries where the political system is far too much centralized. The current state of the multiple parties coalition in Germany is interesting and is obviously a good step forward the proportional representation, even if it's informal. Juts hope that the will not miss the opportunity to grant that in an updated constitution.

    8. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

      Not certain that you get the good picture, probably because that my explanation and my English are not good enough. The parliament can vote to appoint any citizen (almost everybody) as a member of the head of state (The Federal Council: the highest political level), even a citizen that have do nothing to be voted for. Maybe this URL is worth reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

      But the main feature is that there vote 7 members, not just one, so this grant that all leading parties are represented up to the highest level, lowering greatly the frustration of a large part of the population and forcing every parties to continuously and constructively negotiate between them. The whole process is under direct control of all the citizens that can revert any decision and even impose new decision to the government. The Federal Council, the direct democracy by referendum and initiative, are something different from most other country in Europe. Some countries have referendum and initiative in there constitution but in a form that make then more theoretical than a real powerful tool practiced many time per years by all citizens. For example, French citizens referendum are excessively rare and the result of the last most important one was inverted by the government than disliked the popular decision. No better way to spread frustration at large scale and break confidence on the political system...

    9. Re:French republic vs monarchy ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prime ministers are appointed by the government not the other way round.

  21. and nothing of any value was lost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    after all now we have freedom fries!

  22. Please by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All nation's gov are monitoring the net. So many idiots scream about America, but the fact is, that all of Europe, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, India, etc have been caught monitoring data and lines. There are LOADS of enemies out there, and every nation's gov wants to know what is going on.

    If these host providers move anywhere on ANY LAND, they will be monitored. The ONLY way to avoid it, is to put your own sat network up there and beam down to others.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Please by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      I think your bullshit is somewhat undercut by being under an article about another country considering doing what the US is doing, and you claim everyone does.

    2. Re:Please by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They are NOT considering it. They are considering putting it on the books. There is a difference there. French gov already spies on everything that they can.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Please by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are LOADS of enemies out there, and every nation's gov wants to know what is going on.

      Well of course. Once you consider your own citizens enemies, you end up with lots of them.

    4. Re:Please by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      We have no historical reason WHATSOEVER to believe an all-encompassing ability to observe everything we do won't be abused by those in power to maintain their power.

      What's the matter with you people?!?!?

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    5. Re:Please by facetube · · Score: 1

      The real idiots are the ones who think it's okay just because everyone's doing it.

    6. Re:Please by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      "Will be abused", it's a joke, a sacrasm, sigh.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    7. Re:Please by einar.petersen · · Score: 1

      They are probably born after 1989... hence oblivious to STASI and unable to recognize STASI v.2.0 for the New Millennium Reich as it rises.

      --
      MS, ALS, Aphasia ? http://globability.org - Me http://einarpetersen.com
    8. Re: Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? Which nation(s) goverment do you think is not doing all that they can to stop terrorists as well as enemy nations?

    9. Re: Please by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Really? Which nation(s) goverment do you think is not doing all that they can to stop terrorists as well as enemy nations?

      None, but that has nothing to do with uselessly wasting resources on violating your citizens privacy which is what we are discussing.

    10. Re:Please by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      They are NOT considering it. They are considering putting it on the books. There is a difference there. French gov already spies on everything that they can.

      On their own citizens against their own laws. Then it would make no sense to change the laws.

      Also. You are making a strong claim.. Prove it.

    11. Re:Please by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      No, the idiots are the ones that do not realize that this has been going on since the 1800s, or that it will stop.
      What is needed is not to stop the spying on the digital comm, but to make sure that it is not abused.
      The NSA has GENERALLY, not abused things. However, when I worked on the PAT act back in 2005-6, and I saw the CONgress GOP stop the oversight, I KNEW that issues were going to come.
      The NSA has NO power. As such, they are not capable of abusing things.
      The real problem comes in when I hear fools say that NSA should be killed off, or that govs should not have the right to spy on digital comm. Nothing could be more foolish and is typically spoken by those that do not have a grasp of what is going on.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    12. Re:Please by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      And who in the west, considers their own citizens to be enemies?

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    13. Re:Please by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Hmmm. I worked on USA PAT act in 2005-6. I was born in 1959, and had neighbors that had numbers tattooed on their arms. I heard stories from 1 family, while the other would never talk about: his eyes just got a dead look on them when I asked.

      The fact is, that there is a difference between spying on your own citizens in general, vs. spying on terrorists and traitors. It is a hard fine line to walk.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    14. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone? Where have you been hiding the last few years, I thought it had become pretty clear that freedom is bad and everyone is the enemy of the state

    15. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In France there is a group named ZAD "Zones à Défendre", that occupy places to avoid environmental damages. The oppose creation of an airport near Nantes, and a dam in Sivens. They claims such equipments are as not useful as pretended compared to the damages the cause, not without strong arguments.

      It so easy to put an ecoterrorist label on such a group.

    16. Re:Please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Herpa libertarian derp.

    17. Re:Please by Shortguy881 · · Score: 1

      This is the future of American police: http://www.theatlantic.com/nat...

      Key things to note from the article: 120 military grade surveillance cameras, 35 microphone systems, large and continuous police presence, military grade weapons. Some things not listed in this article: Fines are passed out to people seen walking in the same area multiple times for loitering. People are told to move along if seen sitting or standing on street corners. Anyone "suspicious" is stopped and questioned. All license plates registered outside the area are sent notices that their car was caught in illicit activity regardless of why they were there (no charges are filed against them, they are just mailed a notice).

      --
      Brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
    18. Re:Please by houstonbofh · · Score: 1

      With all of the articles about veterans seeking treatment for insomnia having a swat raid the next day to take there guns, you ask this? With Stop and Frisk in New York, you ask this? With ALL of the articles on "what to watch for" including things like "supports the constitution," you have to ask this? Now this is all in the USA, but I am sure people other places have the same stories...

      So, to answer your question, Western Governments!

    19. Re:Please by facetube · · Score: 1

      The government and its agencies should not have the ability to spy on Americans without a warrant – one that specifically describing the person(s) being targeted and the types of communications to be intercepted, issued by a judge in open non-secret court. This is the process the 4th amendment outlines, and this is at the core of peoples' objections to the NSA. Continually violating the law does not make it okay.

      I shouldn't have who I call and my call durations logged by the government, any more than I should have to tell the government when I visit a friend. I shouldn't have my calls automatically recorded when I talk to my American relatives who happen to be visiting Canada or the Bahamas, without meaningful, publicly-inspectable, pre-intercept judicial oversight. I shouldn't have my internet traffic archived forever for later inspection, just because it happens to be temporarily routed outside of the borders of the continental 48 states, or sent to a company that also does international business. The fact that the NSA has done all of these things is evidence of their power and their ability/willingness to abuse it. It's an insane intrusion in to highly personal affairs, with high potential for abuse, retained indefinitely, and held by an organization that has proven it isn't even able to secure its own "top secret" documents.

      Want to spy on foreign governments? Go for it. Want to spy on your own allies and their citizens, as politically suicidal as that is? Go for it. But unless you want to repeal the 4th amendment, leave US citizens out of it.

    20. Re:Please by facetube · · Score: 1

      Oh, I forgot the most egregious violation: just because you got the information about Americans from Canada/UK/NZ or any other of the "five eyes" nations, doesn't mean the law no longer applies. You're still spying on your own citizens without any meaningful judicial oversight.

    21. Re:Please by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Good posting.

      What most ppl miss is that the 5-eyes and others actually do not spy on many at all.
      I suspect that they have unique capabilities to listen in, but not with humans, but with computers. As it is, there was far too many connections just in the cell world, let alone land lines, voip, etc. And that does not include all of the e-mail, IM, etc.
      Most likely NSA and others check things with computers, but only items which have a high probability of terrorism, criminal connections to ppl outside of America, etc. will be flagged.

      Now, with that said, I am shocked that we actually spied on Germany's gov. I certainly never expected that. And it sounds like we were up to other actions that I am NOT happy about, but it was legal for the NSA to do.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  23. Re:Figures by WindBourne · · Score: 2

    run WHERE? To Russia? Or China? Yeah, no monitoring going on there.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  24. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are killing each other, so America should also jump in the mix and kill them more effectively by dropping bombs on them. America creates problems all over the world, then pretends to "fix" it by bombing them to the stones ages and then installing puppet dictators who they plan to topple and bomb in another 10 to 20 years.

  25. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Poor defenseless counties which are killing each other in the name religion. Nice straw man there you coward"

    Well most of 'em wern't poor , werent defenseless and were killing less of their own (than you do) until you invaded them in the name of freedom , democracy and making your 1% richer!

  26. Re:Figures by ScentCone · · Score: 2

    But today seems like the French had a brain while the Americans were flying their flag singing patriotism under the scope of insane nationalism and didn't even realize they were manipulated.

    So what you're saying is that you couldn't bother yourself to read the summary or the article, right?

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  27. Re:Figures by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    That doesn't mean your traffic doesn't go through US routers. Your little chat with your next door neighbor might travel around the world before it gets to its destination. And besides, the Canadians aren't really any better than anybody else. They just don't talk about it much.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  28. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    correction:
    that's land of the free and home of those who freely and proudly consent to be slaves!

  29. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps you should learn to use Google Adwords?
    {if you are really interested in making some dosh that is?}

  30. Going after hosting providers is kinda dumb by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    They can lay this crap on the service providers. Where are they going to go? And besides, the public keeps voting for it, indicating that the people who don't like it are a tiny minority, despite what the bullshit media polls will tell you.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Going after hosting providers is kinda dumb by Noryungi · · Score: 1

      Most people are against that kind of intrusion, especially if they are correctly informed about it. A lot of major newspapers in France have suddenly woken up and taken notice, as they are very much concerned they won't be able to protect their sources in the future.

      Ditto for lawyers and many other institutions.

      So there is hope after all...

      --
      The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  31. Re: Figures by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    They make for very good clients in the weapons trade, so they can't be that poor.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  32. Re:Figures by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Hopefully your hosts aren't based in Canada, because we have the privilege of volunteering to do that small set of 'things' that the US spy agencies decide would be too politically damaging to be caught doing themselves.

    But it's ok, because our press is too polite to report on such things. It wouldn't be proper.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  33. Re:Just like all countries are now running away fr by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but is it statistically noticeable? And since American business is so heavily invested overseas, what difference does it make?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  34. Re:Figures by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    That's the only reason we can still travel while the commie countries had their subjects locked in: There's no "west" we could run to.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  35. Economics isn't the correct position to take... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We should be opposite g the wholesale collection of data because it

  36. OVH by Guspaz · · Score: 1

    There's plenty of room in their Beauharnois datacenter just outside of Montreal here in Canada, we'd be happy to have more of OVH's business here :)

    1. Re:OVH by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

      Your welcome. You can have it. Just make sure you don't allow them to reach port 25 on non Canadian IPs...

    2. Re:OVH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? They are they one of the most spam-friendly hosting providers out there. If this manages to make them go away then good riddance.

  37. Re:Figures by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Informative

    We're part of "5 Eyes". Just like we participated in Echelon.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  38. Not Gandu, it's Gandi by facetube · · Score: 1

    As in https://www.gandi.net/. They have data centers in the US and Luxembourg in addition to France. They started out as a domain registrar in Paris, and now do quite a bit of Xen hosting business.

  39. Re:Figures by X0563511 · · Score: 2

    That's why Japan and the UK are laying an undersea cable across the pole. Unless you use satellites only (fat chance - latency sucks) anything going from north america to elsewhere is going to go through the US on it's way undersea.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  40. Re:Figures by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    That's why Japan and the UK are laying an undersea cable across the pole.

    With the same gov/com 'oversight' all other communications have. The debate over spying is over. It will not stop, or even slow down, quite the opposite. Until all the chatter is reflected in the vote, it is all just chatter. However, I am not against 'fattening the pipe' so to speak. A bit of load relief can't hurt. Let's see if it reduces the price.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  41. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You are not annoying the US in any way. The fact is you are a insignificant grain of sand on the beach. The hysteria around the NSA has become absurd. Since this is supposed to be a technical discussion web site why doesn't someone do the math and determine exactly how much storage space would be required to capture and save just one day's worth of Internet traffic? Multiply that figure by 365 to see storage need for just one year. Once you finish your rough calculations visualize the infrastructure and technologies that would be need to handle this amount of data and the number of in-house and contract IT specialists needed to run such an operation. Add in the fact that in all the classified information release there has not been any implementation or technical details in any of the documents. The vast majority of release documents look more like the kind of information used in presentations to non-technical audiences in order to secure future funding. Now realize that the NSA has approximately 50,000 employees and that figure includes everyone from the secretarial, office management, in-house analyst, and field operators. When all is said and done the NSA is forced to concentrate their efforts on a very select group of people. US satellites have the ability to conduct surveillance and store images on anything of interest any place on earth but those satellites are also forced to concentrate on very small areas for very targeted a purpose. The screeching uproar about the NSA has been about not what they have done but what they could do with their capabilities. There has not been one single case in the US where a US citizen has had their rights violated and suffered any harm from those violations. The only example of the NSA going after someone has been related to a US citizen who released classified material and broken both minor and major US laws. As far as the NSA foreign operations go they are not constrained by the US Constitution or any other US law. All the other foreign intelligence services operate in the same manner. If you want to complain about the NSA foreign operations you better include at least the FSB, MSS,DGSE, Mossad, BND, MOIS, and MI6 in your discussions because until you do your complaints and criticisms of the NSA are meaningless and serve only to blur the context in which all these services operate. I neither support or condemn the NSA or the government in general but I do condemn those who offer up incomplete and often totally false information to support their rants.

  42. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This guy gets first post and gets a good joke in and we're gonna mod him down to -1 because why? His comment was too politically incorrect for the libtards here? OVH customer here

  43. Somebody just got their coffee ? by einar.petersen · · Score: 1

    The organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed reservations on Tuesday 7 April; they believe the bill could open the back door to a surveillance society... aehm cough cough a little late to be giving comments like that, mentinks the barn door to that society is already wide open and people of the world who wish to be free are scrambling to close that door while the sheeple happily plod along in their own little happy world populated by the latest gossip about reality stars of no significance other that creating a mesmerizing circus to hold captive the mere second short attention span of the slaves so as to make sure they won't figure out what is going on around them every day...

    --
    MS, ALS, Aphasia ? http://globability.org - Me http://einarpetersen.com
  44. Re:Figures by Noryungi · · Score: 2

    run WHERE? To Russia? Or China? Yeah, no monitoring going on there.

    OVH is based in the North of France and has mentioned they would move to Belgium. This is one of the biggest hoster in Europe, so it could be a big deal.

    Gandi, which is one of the biggest Registrar in Europe, has said it would move to Switzerland.

    I don't know about the others.

    --
    The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  45. Re: Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thats "Land of the fee and the home of the slave..."

  46. Re:Figures by 7-Vodka · · Score: 1
    Nothing can be said in reply to this post except: Go fuck yourself troll.

    Every single factual statement you've made is incorrect and you've shown NO EVIDENCE AT ALL to back up your ridiculous claims.

    I dismiss them with prejudice.

    --

    Liberty.

  47. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unlike the rest of the Five Eyes though, Canada still seems to draw a bright line between spying and law enforcement

  48. They may succeed by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    The "socialist" french government does not give a s**t about its citizen's opinion, but it seems to be very vigilant about what corporations want.

  49. Re:Figures by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Yes, it is completing ignoring anything our spy agency does. The RCMP does welcome whatever information it passes to it [course, the FBI gets the information first].

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  50. Re:Figures by HughJazz · · Score: 1

    The cowardly French companies are running away!

    The interest question is where are the going to run to? With alleged free world leader america now violating the right to privacy on epic scale.. who isn't going to follow suit? Even fricken Canada is spying on everyone now. (part of five eyes). I'm old enough to remember when we used mock the Soviets as oppressive for doing this sort of thing. Now we are doing it. Instead of taking s strong stance against it, our own government is behavior like intelligence wing of the Comitern. And it isn't even a partisan thing. Most of the core figures of both Republican and Democratic party support this behavior. Apparently they not believe mass surveillance is "human rights". Thus the only way to end this behavior isn't waiting around for our megalomaniac politicians to stop it. The way to do it is to support private sector companies that produce technology that simply does not allow for backdoor. Politicians can pass the laws they want... but they cannot overrule the laws of mathematics.

  51. Re:Figures by cavreader · · Score: 1

    Granted the post was of rambling nature but what factual statements are you contesting? The number of NSA employees? The lack of discussions about the type of IT infrastructure needed to do some of things being attributed to them? Or was bringing up that the NSA has never operated in a vacuum and that any changes in the organizations mandate should not leave the US vulnerable to all the other foreign intelligence agencies operating in the world. Not saying changes are not warranted but those changes should be balanced in such a manner that US security is not jeopardized.

  52. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, how wonderful. It's GCHQ that will tap my communications rather than the NSA. I feel so much better.

  53. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing can be said in reply to this post except: Go fuck yourself troll.

    And "use paragraphs".

  54. kek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >french
    >intelligence

    pick one

  55. Perhaps to ? They will not depart to 5-eyes by eionmac · · Score: 1

    1 I assume they will not go to USA, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada; or Germany (who while not the sixth eye are very close to it; and have or other internatioal major countries.
    2. Perhaps to ? Let's have your guesses as they need to sell to paying customers

    --
    Regards Eion MacDonald
    1. Re:Perhaps to ? They will not depart to 5-eyes by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

      Latvia

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  56. It's true that it costs the providers in custom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I for one decided not to use Gandi for hosting a couple of years ago, because I knew what the French stance on this sort of thing was. (I also recall that the Ts and Cs explicitly required the the registered email address to be checked daily, which is probably fine if you are signing up as a company, but which I think is unreasonable for just an individual person such as myself. That was a secondary reason not to choose Gandi.)

  57. Re:Figures by X0563511 · · Score: 1

    Oh, so you'd prefer it the way it is currently? (where GCHQ and the NSA get their hands on your packets)

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...