This is a translation of a recent post of mine on LinkedinPulse and on this blog. I had not much written in French lately.

Since the terrorist attacks, since I see in the press and elsewhere reports of the ‘jungle of Calais‘, I wonder, how did we get there? I feel we need to try to find answers because we cannot heal the disease without finding its cause.

Refugees are herded into squalid camps, a spell that we would not want for our cattle.

These desperate people come from the cradle of civilisation. From nations that fell into decline under the weight of political regimes favouring their personal interests, letting corruption and political repression reign the terror. Western powers, captivated by the black gold found their field shenanigans. The Shah of Iran, suffering from delusions of grandeur ended up being dismissed by those who held him as their puppet. Khomeini and the Islamic power rule since 1979, for over forty years of a regime that has brought this country to the Middle Ages. Iran of today is no longer the Persia, father the Cyrus Cylinder, of the original Declaration of Human Rights, kept at the British Museum. The wheel of destiny has turned.

Iraq, long supported by the West in its military attacks against Iran, became the enemy. And one day a President awakened from his sleep to the sound of a divine command ordering him to attack this country, once an ally. This man should be tried today for crimes against humanity.

I am doing a shortcut, just mentioning the Guantanamo prison, torture in the legal nomansland of the first world power.

Successive wars, torture and humiliation,  strengthened Islamist terrorist networks. On 9/11, we jumped to the next level of violence with the deadly attack of the Twin Towers in downtown New York. The response, strengthening of Western coalitions against the forces of evil in the guise of Islam. The 21st Century Religious war.

Just like a Battle Game – our governments must have been left to long to play virtual war. The arms industry rubs its hands. The major oil companies made their profits, the military could finally put their theoretical training in practice.

Honest citizens are made to believe that military attacks – based on lies now proven – had to overcome the evil by the force of good.

But the bombs, missiles, as sophisticated as they are, are not capable of the surgical destruction promised. Thousands of civilians are killed. Families disseminated, cultural heritage at large extents destroyed forever. Even  humanitarian hospitals fell under attacks. MSF medical centers were destroyed although they had shared their position. But how to avoid them? This war game is not proceeding as on the screen or on the board. It’s real blood flowing and the blood of innocent civilians. Hate is exacerbated, attacks of all kinds multiplied. A crescendo of violence whirlwind shall take all reason and humanity.

We are in a ‘State of War ‘, as likes to proclaim  the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls. Although France is not overrun by enemy tanks. Radical Islam has hit the heart of Paris. Security measures are tightened. The state of emergency is declared, then extended for the first time under the Fifth Republic. Individual freedom gets limited. Searches and spot checks will follow. Racial profiling and Islamophobia seriously increased. Yet nothing can stop the attacks; after Paris, Mali and Brussels. On the other side of the Channel, the attack on the San Bernardino killed 41 innocent people.

The Government debated to strip French nationality to terrorists, until they realise that this would create stateless individuals no-one  would know what to do with. In the rush it is decided to limit the sanction to bi-nationals, at the risk of creating two tears of French citizens. The decision has an immediate effect  : the resignation of the Justice Minister, Christiane Taubira, who refused to play this demagogic game, in the country of Human Rights. UPDATE : Hollande drops plans to strip nationality.

But lets think, for one second, can we really believe that the menace of withdrawing French nationality would have any deterrent effect to a religious fanatic, kamikaze, ready to explode himself ? Irresponsible demagogy!

If instead, we looked at the reason behind, the motive of a French national – because they are indeed first or second generation French Citizens – to become entrapped by the enemy who kills in the name of the Islam, even though many are not even practicing muslims. In fact, all those arrested or unmasked terrorists have a common denominator:  the passage by the prison. In real life, it’s not like in the Monopoly game, prisoners don’t often get a second chance.

Because I have been fortunate to have studied Criminal Law taught by the Professor Léauté, I know from many years, what he kept warning, the danger of overpopulated prisons. It has only worsened from year to year. This problem is not confined to France – regularly condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for his conditions of detention of prisoners – the problem is unfortunately common to most Western countries. England has privatised its prisons. This is a tragedy. The BBC program, Panorama, recently revealed the violence suffered by very young prisoners, humiliated and beaten by prison guards. For far too long, engorged prisons have ceased to fill their redemption feature. It has become the place of further training in crime and regimentation of religious extremists. We cannot continue to deny the problem, pushing the dust under the carpet. The prison situation is explosive. The work of the guards has become untenable. This does not prevent our presidential candidate, Nathalie Koziko-Morizet to proclaim life sentence for terrorists, why not return to the death penalty. Lets be serious. Did she bother to ask prison guards on the difficulties of managing inmates sentenced to life?

Do not get me wrong, I don’t defend these terrorists but it is worth remembering that France was liberated by the action of a notorious terrorist, the General De Gaulle, and his network. The question is not so simple. I recommend everyone to read or reread ‘The Just Assassins‘ by Albert Camus.

The case of the brothers Coulibali is very eloquent on the motivation of some of these terrorists. These are young people from disadvantaged suburbs, delinquency, prison, cut off from everything, without being heard. Have you ever strolled in Paris with a swarthy? A very revealing experience of racial profiling. When you are systematically controlled, when you cannot find housing, nor work, except in your ghetto, you become an easy prey. Brainwashed and when there is no more hope, terrorist attack, at the cost of owns life, await them. The Coulibali brothers had produced a video with a hidden camera on the conditions of detention in prison but had not been heard.

So what should we do? First, lets stop talking ‘State of War’ and ‘State of Emergency’. No, France is not at war, as Belgium has not declared war either. State of war would mean that terrorists may seek protection of prisoners of war and applicable rules of international law in time of war. Lets start by finding ways of integrating refugees. Infiltrate Islamist circles. This is how Salah Abdeslam was arrested and not as a result of police surveillance. We now know that these terrorists were spotted by the French services, Belgian, Turkish or American. That did not stop them to act. We must accept that accumulating a mass of information is counter productive. The Passenger Name Records data base will not bring much. Any database inherently increases the risk of unauthorised access. Instead, France needs to increase its witness protection.

In the longer term, improving the education system because our youth are our only hope and because it is through the school that immigrants get integrated. We need to review the prison system. It is essential to find alternatives to imprisonment such as Community Work. These young people can no longer understand why politicians and big industry leaders never go to prison despite their wrongdoing. How many ministers were caught red-handed and still at large?

Our judicial system is on the brink of bankruptcy. A society that no longer believes in its Justice is a very sick society.

The terrorists have made us a gigantic walk-to-nose by attacking Brussels’ international airport – one of the most watched places – and the metro station close to the European Institutions, only a few meters from Molembeek. The picture of the three terrorists, walking side by side, wearing one black glove, that took a taxi to arrive at the airport, should be sufficient proof that no security system can confront determining suicide bombers ready to blow. These police measures and increased surveillance will exacerbate violence. The real terror is the fear that is created. We are losing the fundamental values ​​of freedom on which our society is based. We need not let the terrorists take away our identity.

Looking at the biography of the Ministers, some are immigrants. I wonder, how they have managed to succeed what these young terrorists have missed ? Education.

It started with a discussion on Facebook on the social origins of Madame Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, born in 1977 in Beni Chiker in Morocco, in a very modest family. Second of seven children. The family joined the father in France for family reunification. A father working in the building industry, a girl who did all duty at state schools. She did brilliant law studies and finished Science Po to be the first woman Minister of Education, at the age of 36 years. His first Tweet after her appointment was a thank you for this school that allowed her to access a cabinet position. She is not the only bi-national in this Manuel Valls government, starting by himself, a Hispano-French; Ms. Myriam El Khomeri, Minister of Employment, was born of Moroccan father and a French mother; Fleur Pellerin, former minister of culture, as the ecologist Minister Jean-Vincent Place, were both born in South Korea, adopted by French families. The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also Spanish, has acquired French nationality in 1973. This is not even specific to socialists. In the right, Nicolas Sarkozy, sun of Hungarian and Madame Rachida Dati, mostly known for her Louboutin high heel shoes, is the daughter of M’Barek Dati, arrived Moroccan bricklayer in France in 1963 and an Algerian mother. His case is exemplary, she did not achieve her academic credentials without pitfall like the others, but starting with small jobs, not without difficulty, she ended at the ENM (Ecole Normale de la Magistrature) and was appointed Minister of Justice by Nicolas Sarkozy.

All this must be put to the credit of France. A society that, despite her caste, allowed the social ascent of children of immigrants. Instead of rejecting newcomers, look at how to integrate them positively. Let’s look at all these immigrants who are the pride of our country. Remember that lies under the Pantheon flame, Marie Curie, a Polish immigrant, to whom we would not give this tribute had she not been one day admitted to France. We drink the wine that originally comes from Persia, We listen to the music of Chopin, we practice algebra so let us love one another because we are born of the diversity that is enrichment.

Because welcoming immigrants remains above all a humanitarian duty.

 

Photo by Tara TAUBMAN-BASSIRIAN  
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Je n’ai plus écrit en français. peut-Être parceque je n’avais plus vraiment le coeur à m’exprimer dans cette langue. Le français est pourtant la langue dans laquelle j’ai appris à rêver, à grandir, à être moi. C’est en français que j’ai lu les philosophes de la Lumière, la Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et toute une culture sur laquelle j’ai aujourd’hui des doutes. Mais passons, là n’est pas mon propos.

Depuis ces attentats, depuis que je vois dans la presse et ailleurs l’état de la ‘jungle de Calais’, je m’interroge. Pourquoi en sommes nous arrivés là ? C’est important d’essayer d’apporter des réponses car on n’agit sur le mal qu’en en pansant la cause.

Des réfugiés parqués dans des camps insalubres, un sort que nous n’admettrions pas pour notre bétail.

Des réfugiés venus de contrés jadis berceau de notre civilisation. Des nations tombées en décadence, sous le poids de régimes politiques et de chefs d’état privilégiant leurs intérêts personnels et laissant la corruption et la répression politique régner la terreur.

Et nos puissances occidentales, captivées par l’or noir y ont trouvé leur terrain de manigances. Le Chah d’Iran, atteint de la folie des grandeurs a fini par être destitué par ceux qui le tenaient en marionette. Khomeini, puis le Pouvoir islamique règnent depuis 1979, depuis plus de quarante ans d’un régime qui a ramené ce pays au Moyen Age.

L’iraq, longtemps soutenu par l’Occident lors de ses attaques militaires contre l’Iran, est devenu l’ennemi à son tours. Quand un beau jour, un President s’est éveillé de son sommeil au son d’une commande divine lui ordonnant d’abattre ce pays, jadis un allié. Cet homme devrait être jugé pour crime contre l’humanité.

Je fais un grand raccourci, je mentionne au passage la prison de Guantanamo, la torture dans ce nomansland juridique de la première puissance mondiale.

Guerres, tortures et humiliations successives, les réseaux terroristes islamistes se renforcent. Le 9 septembre 2001, on passe à la vitesse supérieure avec l’attaque meurtrière des Tween Towers en plein centre de New York. Ripostes, renforcement des coalitions occidentales contre les forces du mal sous l’habit de l’Islam. Des guerres de religions à la manière du 21eme siècle.

Car c’est le Battle Game – jeu de bataille – des grands chefs d’états, que l’on a du trop laissé jouer à la guerre virtuelle. L’industrie de l’armement s’en frotte les mains. Les grands groupes pétroliers s’enrichissent, les militaires peuvent enfin mettre en pratique leurs formations théoriques.

On fait croire aux honnêtes citoyens que les attaques militaires – justifiées par des mensonges aujourd’hui avérés – devaient vaincre le mal par la force du bien.

Mais les bombes, les missiles, aussi perfectionnés soient-ils, ne sont pas capables des attaques chirurgicales promises. Des milliers de civils sont sacrifiés. Des familles disséquées, des patrimoines culturelles de grandes ampleurs détruits à jamais. On a même droit à des attaques contre des hôpitaux humanitaires. Médecins Sans Frontières en a été la cible bien que leur position ait été signalée. Mais comment les éviter? Ce jeu de guerre ne se déroule pas comme à l’écran ou sur l’échiquier. C’est du vrai sang qui coule, et le sang des civils innocents. La haine est exacerbée, les attaques de tous bords se multiplient. un tourbillon de crescendo de violence emporte toute raison et humanité.

Nous nous retrouvons en ‘Etat de Guerre’, comme aime à clamer notre Premier Ministre, Manuel Valls. Même si la France n’est pas envahie par les chars enemis. L’islam radical a frappé le coeur de Paris. On dit qu’il faut renforcer la sécurité. L’état d’Urgence est déclarée, puis prolongée, pour la première fois sous la Véme République. Perquisitions et contrôles inopinés s’en suivent. Le délit de faciès et l’islamophobie s’en donnent à coeur joie. Pourtant rien n’arrête les attaques; après Paris, le Mali, puis Bruxelles. De l’autre coté de la Manche, l’attaque du San Bernardino a causé la mort de 41 innocents.

On propose en France de retirer la nationalité française aux terroristes, on s’aperçoit que cela reviendrait à créer des apatrides dont on ne saura quoi faire. Dans la précipitation on décide alors de limiter la sanction aux bi-nationaux, au risque de créer deux catégories de français. la décision a un effet immédiat: la démission de la Ministre de la Justice, Christiane Taubira, qui refuse de jouer ce jeu démagogique, au pays des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen.

Mais enfin réfléchissons une seconde, croyez-vous vraiment que retirer la nationalité française à un fanatique religieux, kamikaze, prêt à se faire exploser, aurait un quelconque effet? Démagogie irresponsable!

Si au lieu de cela, nous regardions le pourquoi de la cause, pourquoi ces jeunes français, car il s’agit bien de français de première ou seconde générations, ont pu se faire embrigader par l’ennemi qui tue, au nom de l’Islam, alors même que plusieurs ne sont pas même des pratiquants assidus. Mais fait important, tous ceux qui ont été arrêtés ou démasqués ont un dénominateur commun : le passage par la case prison. Ici, ce n’est plus comme au Monopoly, on ne vous laisse pas souvent de seconde chance.

Parce que j’ai eu la chance d’avoir etudié le Droit Penal enseigné par le Doyen Léauté, je sais que de longues dates, le Professeur alertait contre le problème de la surpopulation carcérale qui n’a fait qu’empirer d’année en année. Ce problème n’est pas réservé à la France – régulièrement condamnée par la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme pour ses conditions de détention des prisonniers – ce problème est malheureusement présent dans la plupart de nos pays occidentaux. L’Angleterre a été jusqu’à privatiser ses prisons. C’est un drame. Le programme de la BBC, Panorama, a récemment révélé les violences subies par de très jeunes prisonniers, humiliés et battus par des surveillants. Depuis bien trop longtemps, la prison engorgée ne rempli plus sa fonction de rédemption. Elle est devenue le lieu de formation continue à la délinquance et à l’embrigadement des extrémistes religieux. On ne peut plus nier le problème et continuer à repousser la poussière sous le tapis. La situation des prisons est explosive. le travail des gardiens est devenu intenable. Cela n’empêche pas notre candidat aux présidentielles, Madame Nathalie Koziko-Morizet de clamer la recuisions criminelle à perpétuité réelle pour les terroristes, pourquoi pas le retour à la peine capitale. Soyons sérieux. A-t-elle pris la peine d’interroger les gardiens de prison sur les difficultés de gérer les détenus condamnés à la perpétuité?

Ne vous méprenez pas, je ne défends pas ces terroristes mais il est bon tout de même de se rappeler que la France a été libérée grâce à l’action d’un terroriste notoire et son réseau de libération, aux cotés du General De Gaulle. La question n’est pas si simple. Je recommande à chacun de lire ou relire ‘Les Justes’ de Camus.

Le cas des frères Koulibashi est très éloquent de la motivation de certains de ces terroristes. Des jeunes issus de banlieues défavorisées, délinquance, prison, coupés de tout, sans être entendu. Vous-Êtes vous jamais baladé à Paris aux cotés d’un individu au teint basané? Une expérience très révélatrice du délit de faciès. Lorsque vous êtes systematiquement controlé, lorsque vous ne trouvez ni logement, ni travail, sauf dans votre ghetto, vous devenez une proie facile. Le lavage de cerveau et lorsqu’ils sont sans espoir aucun, l’attaque terroriste au prix de leur vie les guettent. Je rappelle que les frères Koulibashi avaient réalisé une vidéo en caméra cachée sur les conditions de détention en prison mais qu’ils n’avaient pas été entendus.

Alors quoi faire ? Tout d’abord, cessons de parler d’état de guerre et d’état d’urgence. Non, la France n’est pas en guerre, tout comme la Belgique ne s’est pas déclarée en guerre. Etat de guerre impliquerait que les terroristes puissent demander la protection de prisonniers de guerre et l’application des règles du droit international en temps de guerre. Commençons par trouver des solutions d’intégration. Infiltrons les milieux islamistes. Ce qui a permis l’arrestation de Salah Abdeslam, c’est la dénonciation et non pas la surveillance policiere. On sait aujourd’hui que ces terroristes étaient pour la plupart signalés par les services français, belges, turcs ou américains. Ca ne les a pas empêché de passer à l’acte. Il faut accepter qu’accumuler une masse d’information est contre productive. Le fichier PNR n’apportera pas grand chose. Toute base de donnée constituée augmente les risques d’accès abusif. Au-lieu de cela, la France est loin de ce qu’il faut dans la protection des témoins.

Sur le plus long terme, améliorons le système éducatif car nos jeunes sont nos seuls espoirs et que c’est par l’école que les immigrés s’intègrent. Revoyons notre système carcéral. Il faut absolument trouver des modes alternatifs à l’emprisonnement comme les travaux d’intérêt Général. Ces jeunes ne peuvent plus comprendre pourquoi les politiciens et grands chefs d’entreprise ne vont jamais en prison malgré toutes leurs malversations. Combien de ministres pris la main dans le sac et toujours en liberté ?

Notre système judiciaire est au bord de la faillite. Une société qui ne croit plus en sa justice est une société gravement malade.

Les terroristes nous ont fait un pied-de-nez gigantesque en attaquant l’aéroport international de Bruxelles – un des lieux les plus surveillés – et la station de métro proche des Institutions Européennes et à quelques mètres de Molembeek. La photo des trois terroristes, se promenant cote à cote, portant un gant noir, arrivés à l’aéroport en taxi, devrait être la preuve suffisante de ce qu’aucun système de sécurité ne peut confronter la détermination de kamikazes prêts à se faire sauter. Ces mesures policières et ces surveillances accrues ne feront qu’exacerber la violence. La vrai terreur, est cette peur qui nous ferait perdre nos valeurs fondamentales de libertés sur lesquelles notre société est fondée. Ne laissons pas les terroristes nous enlever notre identité.

Je regardais aujourd’hui la biographie des ministres issus de l’immigration. Je m’interroge, qu’ont-ils réussi que ces jeunes terroristes ont raté ? L’éducation. C’est parti d’une discussion sur les médias sociaux sur les origines sociales de Madame Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, née en 1977 à Beni Chiker au Maroc, dans une famille très modeste. Deuxième de sept enfants. La famille rejoint le père en France bénéficiant du regroupement familial. Un père travaillant dans le bâtiment, une fille qui dit tout devoir à l’école de la République. Elle fait de brillantes études de droit et fini Science Po pour être la première femme ministre de l’éducation, à l’âge de 36 ans. Son premier Tweet après sa nomination était un remerciement pour cette école qui lui a permis d’accéder à un poste de ministre. Elle n’est pas seule bi-nationale dans le gouvernement Valls, à commencer par lui-meme, Espagnol-francais, Mme El Khomeri, Ministre de l’Emploi, elle, est née de père Marocain et de mère française; Fleur Pellerin, ex-ministre de la culture, tout comme le Ministre écologiste Jean-Vincent Placé, ils sont tous deux nés en Corée du Sud, enfants adoptives élèves par des familles françaises. La Maire de Paris, Anne Hidalgo, est également Espagnole, naturalisée française. Ce n’est même pas une spécificité de gauche car à droite aussi, nous avons Nicolas Sarkozy, de père Hongrois, Madame Rachida Dati, plus souvent connue pour ses escarpins à talons Louboutin, est la fille de M’Barek Dati, maçon marocain arrivé en France en 1963 et d’une mère algérienne. Son cas est exemplaire, elle n’a pas eu un parcours universitaire sans embuche comme les autres, mais en partant de petits boulots, des diplômes obtenus non sans mal, elle arrive à l’ENM et fini par être nommée Ministre de la Justice de Nicolas Sarkozy.

Tout ceci doit être mis au credit de la France. Une société qui, malgré ses castes, a permis l’ascension sociale de ces enfants d’immigrés. Au lieu de rejeter ces nouveaux arrivants, pensons à comment les intégrer, comment s’en enrichir. Regardons tous ces immigrés qui font la fierté de notre pays. Souvenons-nous que repose sous la flamme du Panthéon, Marie Curie, une immigrée polonaise, à qui nous ne rendrions pas cet hommage si elle n’avait pas été un jour accueillie. Buvons le vin qui nous vient de la Perse, Ecoutons la musique de Chopin, enseignons l’algèbre et aimons-nous les uns les autres car c’est de la diversité que née l’enrichissement.

Car accueillir les immigrés reste avant tout un devoir humanitaire.

 

Photo by Tara TAUBMAN-BASSIRIAN 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

CC Tara Taubman

What has changed in the music world?
Like everything, Internet plays the amplifier: bigger scale in spread and speed, free broadcast, higher reach, perfect quality duplication.
So what about digital music ? You don’t buy anymore, you get a lease. The music is not yours. You cannot sell it, not even transfer its property for free. After your death ? All will disappear. Actually, many even loose all their purchased music before, with the death of their device.
That’s all good for the music industry.
What else? No packaging, no stock, no store, no vendor. Minimal distribution cost. Higher benefit.
So why do artists don’t make more money?
Why is that the music industry is lobbying for more anti counterfeiting measure, Deep Packet Inspection and censorship?
Let’s look at what happened with the cinema. Al these warnings that home recording and TV will kill it all? Look at the results: French cinema this year had its best results ever! Le Monde May 2015 :<a href=”http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2015/05/06/le-cinema-francais-va-bien-merci_4628561_3234.html”&gt; “Le Cinema Francais via bien, Merci”</a>
Not enough that technology evolves, you want it or not, the market will be ever strong as long as the quality is there.
<a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/briansolis/the-future-of-digital-music-and-artistry-brian-solis-at-midem-2015”>Brian Solis slides on the future of digital music and artistry </a>

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

 

One very active researcher I have met at Queen Mary University of London during my Masters on Internet and Telecommunications Law was Julia Hornle. Although not very helpful to resolve my personal issue when my essay was lost by the lecturer during my first online tester module, she has done extensive work on EU and cross border internet regulation and online gambling. [If you wondered, I was lucky to have the email of that lecturer confirming he had received the essay. SO after a long battle, I came out with a higher mark.]
So it was with great pleasure that I heard her presentation on the more specific issue of Law enforcement and internet jurisdiction.

Law enforcement agencies encounter many challenges when prosecuting authors of crime to investigate and gather information. One challenge is to access data stored in another jurisdiction, another is to access data of entity when the head quarter is based in another jurisdiction. (How Cyber Jurisdiction Affects Cybercrime Prosecution) Public International law is based on the connection factor of territoriality. The

The two main cases that applies here are the recent case of Microsoft Ireland v US (access authorisation to data stored in Ireland of a US entity, Microsoft, having its head quarters in the US. The other case is Yahoo Belgium access of emails.
(Jurisdiction over user data – what is the ideal solution to a very real world… )

Were discussed the 1935 Harvard research principles
and Budapest Convention with regard to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. Anna Maria Osula exposed the limits of the slow process of the MLAT.

The situation is different for Criminal law investigation of a crime against state intelligence. The recent case of NSA and UK GCHQ data access have been criticised.
How much data is safe online with the accession in cloud?
Art 29WP opinion erects a distinction between sovereignty/ prosecution and law enforcement/collection of evidence
Use of encryption and wire tap barrier to access communication are privacy barriers. Recently the UK government has tried to bare the use of encryption.
To read more on the subject and access the video recording of the panel click here.

One of the very crucial issues for online privacy is how much anonymity is effective. An insightful panel discussions at the CPDP 2015 Privacy conference in Brussels was ‘To be or not to be (anonymous)? Anonymyity in the age of big and open data‘. How safe anonymised data are is at the centre of the big data debate. So far, most research, if not all, have shown how easily date could be de-anonymised. Paul Ohm and the Carnegie Melon University have demonstrated the failure of anonymization for a long time. Here is how it was announced on the program :

organised by INRIA (FR)

Chair Daniel Le Métayer, INRIA (FR)

Moderator Benjamin Nguyen, INSA Centre Val de Loire (FR)

Panel Josep Domingo-Ferrer, UNESCO Chair in Data Privacy (SP), Mark Elliot, University of Manchester (UK), Antoinette Rouvroy, University of Namur, CRIDS (BE), Vincent Toubiana, CNIL (FR)

Anonymisation is seen as an essential prerequisite for the development of big data and open data because it is the only way to allow the disclosure of large datasets while preserving individuals’ privacy. However, what do we mean exactly by anonymisation, and what could be considered as a truly anonymous dataset? Is it possible to ensure that “anonymised” data cannot be de-anonymised one day? If not, can we draw a line between anonymous and personal data? How should data utility be taken into account?  These questions are under considerable debate and the answers are of strategic importance. Addressing these issues interdisciplinarily is essential. This panel will gather computer scientists, statisticians and lawyers to contrast and discuss their views on anonymisation.  The panel will also provide the opportunity to present and discuss Opinion 05/2014 of the Article 29 Working Party on anonymisation techniques.

• What is anonymous data?
• How can data be anonymised in practice?
• What are the limitations of anonymisation?
• How can regulation go beyond the duality personal data/anonymous data? 

More about the panelists : Vincent Toubiana, from the French data Protection Authority, the CNIL (FR) Mark Elliot, from the Manchester University (UK) Professor Antoinette Rouvroy, University of Namur, CRIDS (BE) Professor Josep Domingo Ferrer, UNESCO Chair in Data Privacy (SP) More on that very important subject of anonymization and the research results on de-anonymization. With Few bits of data, researchers were able to identify ‘anonymous’ people. All research tend to prove it is not possible to remain anonymous online.

The Computers, Privacy & Data Protection conference is one of the major annual privacy events. Originally founded in 2007 by research groups from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Université de Namur and Tilburg University, it is not an exaggeration to say that the ‘CPDP offers the cutting edge in legal, regulatory, academic and technological development in privacy and data protection. In 2014 ‘854 guests including 343 speakers from 43 different countries dispersed over more than 60 panels which took place during three full days. It attracted another 500 people in several public evening events… this year’s main topical themes were: Data Protection Reform: European and Global Developments, Mobility (mobile technologies, wearable technologies, border surveillance), EU-US developments concerning the regulation of government surveillance, Health, privacy and data protection, Love and lust in the digital age, Internet governance and privacy. I recently published a short article on LinkedIn, ‘Bigger than Big Data, Processed Information is Gold’ on the usefulness of the storage and classification of information. The multiple topics developed during this conference was the subject of my latest curation. Using the Pearltrees application, I have started gathering all publications around this event. They are published papers, programs, pictures or tweets. Progressively I will be able to add more papers and interventions published during this conference. All this can be shareable and accessible at anytime, from anywhere on any digital device, be it a smartphone, a tablette or a computer. The content is easily modifiable, completed or shared. Have a look here, on Pearltrees ‘CPDP 2015‘ From an iPad or a smartphone, you might need to download the free App. Simply click on each square to access the relevant information on a webpage, a Pdf or text document or a picture.

Disclaimer: I have no tight or affiliation with The Pearltrees. I am simply a long time user.

Today, January 6th 2015, 12 innocent people were killed by two or three extremists during a massacre attack at the French satirique newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
Another witness of the actual climate of trouble, the three biggest recent publications in France have been, after Valerie Trierweller’s ‘Merci Pour Ce Moment’, Zemmour’s anti Islamist book and more recently, Oualbeck’s anti Islamist propaganda novel.
Drole d’epoque !
Raise of religious hater,
Bigger and bigger gap between rich and poor,
A society where some die of over eating and obesity while the other half dies of hunger,
Some sick of working too much while other are sick with unemployment,
Is this the new economic order ?
Here are the pictures published by Charlie Hebdo to deserve the death of 12 innocents, including some of the greatest cartoonists.
To support freedom of speech and if living in a free society is your ideal, you might want to share these pictures.

privacy takes a deeper meaning in such context. Don’t forget to watch Viktor Mayer’s Shonenberger or better, read his book: ‘Delete’

Copyright

I have studied Copyright law in France at undergraduate level, in the UK during my postgrad LLM at QMUL and at the moment I am reading an online course on Copyright with Harvard University. I have spent the last few years looking at the intersection of privacy and copyright law. I have advocated against the recent anti piracy regulations From HADOPI- The digital Economy Bill, SOPA and et all. I have been repeating this is all too confusing. We need to adapt the law before creating new sanctions, no one today can pretend to really grasp the logic of copyright law. The decision by the 9th Circuit came out just when we were studying the question of Authorship. It is absolutely amazing to read this case where the actress Cindy Garcia is said to own a copyright on a movie where she played a small contribution which has been used without her consent in a second movie, the ‘Innocence of Muslims’. The justification being that she has been receiving death threats. What could have been resolved under contract law, had she had signed a contract, or Moral Rights, had it been in Civil Law litigation.
So the 9th Circuit has given an injunction to Google YouTube to take down this video. The Judge Kozinski has even asked Google/YouTube an injunction not to tell the world that the video had been ordered censored by a court for at least a week!
Since, Google has quickly filed an “emergency motion for a stay”.
The number of dissent opinions on this case is remarkable. I invite you to look at some of them collected on my Pearltrees. This is a crucial question as it can led to a deluge of litigation if each and any actor, performing in a movie claimed co-authorship on the work. As much as I know co-authorship is not proportional under US law. So any actor would have right on every each whole work?!!!!! It’s a mess and I fear for every law student expected to have understood. here the Hollywood Reporter reports few dissent scholars.

Check out the pearltree Authorship.

Here is an abstract of the reasoning:

An actor’s performance, when fixed, is copyrightable if it evinces “some minimal degree of creativity . . . ‘no matter how crude, humble or obvious’ it might be.” …. That is true whether the actor speaks, is dubbed over or, like Buster Keaton, performs without any words at all. Cf. 17 U.S.C. § 102(a)(4) (noting “pantomimes and choreographic works” are eligible for copyright protection). It’s clear that Garcia’s performance meets these minimum requirements.

Aalmuhammed isn’t to the contrary because it does not, as the dissent would have it, “articulate[] general principles of authorship.” Dissent 25. Aalmuhammed only discusses what is required for a contributor to a work to assert joint ownership over the entire work: “We hold that authorship is required under the statutory definition of a joint work, and that authorship is not the same thing as making a valuable and copyrightable contribution.” … Aalmuhammed plainly contemplates that an individual can make a “copyrightable contribution” and yet not become a joint author of the whole work. Id. For example, the author of a single poem does not necessarily become a co-author of the anthology in which the poem is published. It makes sense to impose heightened requirements on those who would leverage their individual contribution into ownership of a greater whole, but those requirements don’t apply to the copyrightability of all creative works, for which only a “minimal creative spark [is] required by the Copyright Act and the Constitution.”

[….]

This doesn’t mean that Garcia owns a copyright interest in the entire scene: She can claim copyright in her own contribution but not in “preexisting material” such as the words or actions spelled out in the underlying script. 17 U.S.C. § 103(b);…. Garcia may assert a copyright interest only in the portion of “Innocence of Muslims” that represents her individual creativity, but even if her contribution is relatively minor, it isn’t de minimis…. We need not and do not decide whether every actor has a copyright in his performance within a movie. It suffices for now to hold that, while the matter is fairly debatable, Garcia is likely to prevail.

Discours de Pierre Olivier pour son investiture au Batonnat

Je me souviens que lorsqu’un jour on demanda a la plus vieille dame du monde comment elle se sentait du haut de son grand âge, elle répondit que tout allait a merveille pour elle mais qu’elle se souciait de sa fille qui elle, prenait de l’âge!

Aujourd’hui, en regardant le discours éloquent de Pierre Olivier Sur, je vois son crâne dégarnissant et ses poches sous les yeux qui me rappellent que de l’eau a coulé sous le pond depuis que je l’ai connu jeune étudiant. A peine plus jeune, je travaillais alors au cabinet de son père, Bernard Sur. Il n’avait que quelques pas d’avance sur moi dans ses études de droit. Il venait lui du sérail et moi d’un autre monde. C’est parachutée que je me retrouvais en fac de droit  alors que tout me prédestinait a la médecine.

C’est pourtant avec passion que j’ai poursuivi mes études tout en travaillant. J’étais pleine de ferveur et assoiffée de savoir.

Je me souviens encore très bien le traitement inégalitaire des collaboratrices femme a l’époque, surtout au cabinet Sur spécialisé dans le droit de la construction. Minoritaires étaient les femmes avocates; Majoritaires elles le sont devenues aujourd’hui au Barreau de Paris.

Olivier Sur succède a Christine Ferahl Schul. Avant elle, Dominique de la Garanderie au cabinet de qui j’ai également eu la chance de travailler alors étudiante. Elle a été la première femme Bâtonnier de l’Ordre. Une femme de grande culture et une personnalité pour qui j’ai gardé un respect tout particulier.

Malgré ce long chemin, les femmes sont encore bien loin dans la liste des ‘grands’ cabinets.

Pas facile d’être une femme et de poursuivre une carrière.

Pas facile d’être une femme encore aujourd’hui.

J’ai eu aussi la chance de travailler au Cabinet Salance, une autre dame de grande envergure. Elle a cree un des rares cabinets français présents a l’internationale.

Elles sont peu, trop peu des femmes de cette trampe.

Félicitations a Pierre Olivier Sur, tu es aujourd’hui le nouveau Bâtonnier. C’est un grand chemin que tu as parcouru.

Nous sommes beaucoup a avoir entrepris des études de droit poussés par l’amour et le respect pour la Justice.

Faites que le droit ne devienne pas un simple commerce. Chercher a tirer profit de l’état de faiblesse de son client, sans respect pour la personne, n’est pas exercer le métier d’avocat. Ce n’est rien de plus qu’un vautour ou un chacal qui se jette sur un cadavre mourant. On ne devient pas avocat comme on devient banquier. Le banquier, lui au moins ne prétend pas défendre des droits. Il s’occupe de fructifier l’argent qui n’a pas d’âme.

Ceci expliquant cela, on devinera peut-être pourquoi on aura moins de femme dans certains ‘grands’ cabinets moins humains.Discours d’investiture de Olivier Sur Batonnier de l’Ordres des Avocats de Paris