La Quadrature du Net

It's not the whole truth though, it's thanks to associations like La Quadrature du Net https://www.laquadrature.net/ that they had to share their algorithm. It also shows a bias towards single familly with low income, adding pressure to families already in state of precarity. It doesn't mean it's intentional but it is still an issue. The fact that there are no proper audit of those algorithms before allowing those to be used looks quite bad in my opinion. This can be quite impactful on people's life.

That's also the reaction [1] of "La Quadruature du Net", the association that brought the complaint "(...) this historical fine shows even more blatantly the complete resignation of the Irish authority for data protection, which in 3 years hasn't been able to process any of the 4 other claims we made against Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google." it also goes after the French authority for data protection (CNIL) to say basically: you used to be one of the best in Europe, now you're a mere shadow of your former self [1] https://www.laquadrature.net/2021/07/30/amende-de-746-millions-deuros-…

La Quadrature du Net [0] is a collective of privacy advocates, like the EFF for the EU. They run an active Mastodon node at mamot.fr. [0]: https://www.laquadrature.net/

Did you reach La Quadrature Du Net ? https://www.laquadrature.net/ Also check other CCC co-organizers & the political activist sphere.

If you can speak/read french, La quadrature du Net are amazing, it's a non profit fighting for net neutrality. They're pretty huge and very active https://www.laquadrature.net/fr EDIT : I actually just discovered that the website is also translated in english : https://www.laquadrature.net/en

For anyone who wants to know more about any form of "trade agreement" the EU is up to. https://www.laquadrature.net/ is a very good documented website. Here is everything about TTIP, also known as TAFTA https://www.laquadrature.net/en/TAFTA TAFTA = the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement TTIP = Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

In France we have a lobby fighting for internet freedom, La Quadrature du Net: http://www.laquadrature.net/ The lobby is only three people, and was started by one guy on his own. He pays himself with donations. And yet he's been very efficient: almost all newspaper stories on the subject quote him. Also, more and more French politicians understand the electoral weight of the issues, and less and less support restrictive laws such as Hadopi. I don't see why you couldn't have the same in the states.

This is a better link from a French privacy non-profit but I can't change it now: https://mamot.fr/@LaQuadrature/115581775965025042 @dang or other mods, could you change it? Google Translated text: > Two articles in Le Parisien yesterday, followed today by one in Le Figaro, have launched a shameful attack against GrapheneOS, a free and accessible open-source operating system for phones. At La Quadrature du Net, it's one of the tools we favor and regularly recommend for protecting against advertising tracking and spyware. > Echoing the propaganda of the Ministry of the Interior, newspapers describe GrapheneOS as a "crime-related phone solution," and a police officer adds that its use is suspicious in itself because it indicates an "intention to conceal." By portraying GrapheneOS as a technology linked to drug trafficking, this attack aims to criminalize what is actually a secure privacy-preserving tool. > In these articles, the head of the cybercrime section of the Paris prosecutor's office – who was behind the arrest of Pavel Durov – also threatens the developers of GrapheneOS. In an interview, she warns that she will "not hesitate to prosecute the publishers if links are discovered with a criminal organization and they do not cooperate with the justice system." https://archive.is/20251119110251/https://www.leparisien.fr/faits-dive… > The government…

> Amazon subsidizes the cost of the software side in order to get the hardware in to homes because they believe it drives sales. I think that's not the only reason. It creates acceptability for other ML-based technologies which in my personal view should definitely not exist (except as a best effort assistive technology for handicapped folks) and it gives them real world feedback on how broken their neural models are as well as real-life voice data collected unexpectedly by the device and sent to precarious contract workers to be transcribed (including very personal/sensitive details). Unfortunately i don't think this article has been translated to English, but La Quadrature had a mind blowing interview with Julie who was a cheap-paid transcriber for Microsoft's Cortana, telling us all about the kind of things that get recorded without the owners being aware and that she has to transcribe (without having ever signed a privacy/confidentiality agreement): https://www.laquadrature.net/2018/05/18/temoin_cortana/

> But if Section 230 didn't exist, it wouldn't stop bans one single bit and in fact would only encourage vastly more stringent moderation and banning (assuming any unvetted user created content continued to be allowed at all on the general web). That's one way to look at it. On the other hand : https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200531/23325444617/hello-youve-bee… > smart lawyers will say that the best way to avoid that kind of liability is not to moderate at all. So Section 230 explicitly overruled that judicial decision, and eliminated liability for moderation choices. (which would also be bad of course) So I wouldn't be surprised if in the next years we would see changes : There could be an intermediary status between hoster and editor : a "displayer" would not be liable for what its users do. It would (unlike a hoster) be liable for the moderating choices that he decides to do. There might be additional requirements to benefit from the hosting status : of size, power, economic model, &c. https://www.laquadrature.net/2018/10/16/un-tiers-mediaire/ (fr) (Some of this has now been implemented in the EU.) As for Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, you'll note that it was decided by 1 voice, and there recently was a change in the SC, and the USA generally seems to have entered a very unstable time, so who knows what the future holds ?

French citizen here. For as long as I can remember, there's been a strong will in the French FLOSS communities to develop local alternatives to the ever-expanding reach of the FAANG/GAFAM, for many reasons. The obvious one being the export of data outside actionable jurisdiction, but it could also be explained by differences in ideology. As for what else we're doing, there's La Quadrature du Net (LQDN)[1] which took part in the recent Google €50m fine, some projects by concerned citizens to keep a watch on politicians[2] and tracking in mobile apps[3], but one of my favourite things comes from the increasing will to release "OpenData" (public data sets from various sources)[4] to let collectivities, regions and smaller units build tools to solve their local problems. [1] https://www.laquadrature.net/en [2] https://projetarcadie.com/ (in French) [3] https://exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/ [4] https://www.data.gouv.fr/en/

France tried to push two time such a law (with the difference that it was for viewing terrorist website "regularly")[0]. This law was banned two time by the Conseil Constitutionnel (equivalent of the supreme court I think)[1]. But now EU is trying to put a "terrorist-filter"[2], which, I guess, our law-maker are probably heavily pushing for. Such a proposition might be able to pass through the Conseil Constitutionnel, since banning website (in France) has already been approved and is in place (some website like The Pirate Bay cannot be accessed "normally" in France). This should really worry us. The definition of terrorism or extremism has always been blurry (see for example the situation with the PKK). And, in any case, it has been shown many time again that this kind of measure could be misused, either intentionally, or by technical ignorance (banning a shared IP). The Australian censorship is a good example of that[3]. All these laws have been also proven ineffective at best and are just a form of power-grab by authorities. A prime example of that is, yet again, France, where most of the "anti-terrorsime" laws passed after the Paris attack have mostly been used against various political militant and, right now, against the protest going on with the gilets jaunes (See for example, the use of emergency state against the COP21 militant [4]) This will not stop, fear has always been used as an excuse to grab more power. Thats why it's important that we keep supporting and…

For those HN readers who are interested in original source material to make up their own mind about ACTA straight from the horse's mouth, the following links are a good starting point: Full final treaty text as signed by the EU, including translations in languages of member states: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/servlet/driver?page=Result&lan… "January 18th, 2010 consolidated text" including country positions makes interesting reading (PDF and transcript thanks to lqdn): http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/ACTA_20100118_version_consolidated_te…

The ACTA is an abomination. But the way it has been managed behind closed doors is an affront to global democratic nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement The article states that the full text of ACTA is unavailable. All ACTA texts are officially unavailable, but the consolidated text has been leaked. I have the latest version here, and it can easily be found. However, I speak as a European, whereas this article is presented to Americans. As it is, I view the ACTA is an attempt at imposing bad US regulation into the European law by stealth. Especially, pertinent to this audience is the matter of software patents. (ACTA is more than that, but that's the bit I'm personally defending.) Much of ACTA we can agree with: replication of brand goods, and so forth, but the devil is in the details, which is almost universally misunderstood, nay incomprehensible, to most MEPs (Members of the European Parliament). (Note that, in Europe, ACTA is being negotiated by the European Commission, in secret. The Commission sits above the European Parliament. Regardless, the Parliament ultimately holds the legislative power.) Last week there was a great deal of activity regarding ACTA in the European Parliament after Written Declaration 12/2010 received enough signatories to pass. http://www.laquadrature.net/wiki/Written_declaration_ACTA_12/2010 It was a very close run thing, and many of us were lobbying all MEPs even during the final day. Frankly, we were…

Skip the video and read the source: https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/06/05/affaire-du-8-decembre-le-chiff…

English version https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encrypti…

I don't know... I just don't trust France and Germany all that much with privacy-friendly services... [1][2][3] [1]: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/24/encryption-under-fire-in-europe-as-f… [2]: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encrypti… [3]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36275795

There is the same kind of language in GDPR (see article 2(2)D), but it still did not prevent this decision: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2025/01/31/justice-finally-finds-brief…

> police are late to this particular arms race and don't realize It is smarter and simpler than that: Once the use of encryption keys is banned, everyone using one will label himself "I am a terrorist" and will be at least annoyed endlessly by the judicial system. https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/12/15/encryption-discussion-durin…

You can't make this stuff up. Ref: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encrypti…

France had a system to can social media for tax fraud in 2021: https://www.politico.eu/article/france-starts-scrapping-social-media-t… One NGO that fought this was la quadrature du net, here is there post about it (in french): https://www.laquadrature.net/2019/11/05/le-parlement-doit-rejeter-le-f…

Url changed from https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/06/05/affaire-du-8-decembre-le-chiff… which points to this.

English version of the article doesn't mention uBlock Origin at all https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encrypti…

https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/06/05/affaire-du-8-decembre-le-chiff… (in french)

And in English https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encrypti…

This is way more complex that it is. Especially the cookie banner part. If you don't have global analytics (= google analytics) and if you don't have personalised ads, you're fine. This person/company sells a "GDPR compliant" product. So they have all the incentive to make it sound a bigger deal and threat than it is. This way you will buy from them and accept the hefty price. From my understanding, the issue with the Amazon fine, which they evasively mention, is that you could click on "deny" on their cookie banner but still be personally be tracked by amazon. [1] [2] [1] https://dataprivacymanager.net/luxembourg-dpa-issues-e746-million-gdpr… [2] https://www.laquadrature.net/2021/07/30/amende-de-746-millions-deuros-…

More about La Quadrature du Net : https://www.laquadrature.net/en/

Well, that's not chicken feed, even for Amazon. Still a bit light on detail? The original complaint is linked from https://www.laquadrature.net/en/personnal-data/ - it's in French https://gafam.laquadrature.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2018/05/amaz… The lack of publicity or even publicly available copy of the ruling is odd. I guess the choice of Amazon to reside in one of the secretive tax haven jurisdictions of Europe has the side effect that it also has a really secretive information commissioner.

All this personal health infos should never ended up being encoded in clear in the QR code. Some french researchers and Laquadrature are going to court to remove those infos from there: "la lecture du code en 2D permet à n’importe qui, toujours aussi facilement, d’accéder à des données de santé très sensibles mais parfaitement inutiles au fonctionnement du passe : date de prise du vaccin, nom du vaccin, contraction passée de la maladie" https://www.laquadrature.net/2021/06/09/passe-sanitaire-attaquons-lobl…

I guess it's often much simpler and cheaper to not try to hide it. The CNAME practice is becoming more and more common. See https://blog.apnic.net/2020/08/04/characterizing-cname-cloaking-based-… or https://medium.com/nextdns/cname-cloaking-the-dangerous-disguise-of-th… or https://www.laquadrature.net/2020/10/05/le-deguisement-des-trackers-pa… I think proxying or doing it server side only will be implemented later when these people will be forced to hide to save their shitty business model.