The freedom of Internet users in France is under threat

The daily is alarmed by the French government's preparation of a decree for the application of the 'bill on confidentiality in digital economy'. This would oblige servers to keep the personal data of Internet users (passwords, pseudonyms, bank card numbers and contributions to forums or blogs) for a year in order for intelligence services to be able to consult them. "In terms of confidentiality, this is about a threat to freedom. ... The struggle against terrorism and crime in general - an imperative of course - does not justify turning French society into a surveillance society. Public freedoms are of a piece. The same rules apply to digital freedom, however new and confusing it may be. It prohibits the transformation of website editors into 'informers' and those who frequent them into Orwellian subjects."

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