Internet News from France

It is forecast that 10 millions people will be connected to the Web in France this year. The Government is planning for Internet's development  in any and all respects: administration, justice, teaching, business, culture, among others. The Government's plan appears rather ambitious, but there is no doubt that it will contribute to the development of a Web culture and society in France.

Of course, the plan advocates the use of the French language on the Net and promotion of the French culture. It is pragmatic though and supports the development of a bi-lingual society (without naming the American/English language). This is getting a hot issue in France where there is a concern that people who do not practice fluently American/English will be at a significant disadvantage within what is becoming a two-levels cultural society in that respect.

A law made on July 26, 1996 intended that the prohibition of encryption (which was put into effect at the beginning of WW II) be softened progressively and decrees were issued for that purpose on February 25 and March 23, 1998. Encryption of personal data, pass-words and autentifying means are authorized by the decrees provided they do not insure the message self-confidentiality. The system of a Trusted Third Party (TTP) has been adopted as a form of possible control. TTP must be approved by the French Authorities. Outside the TTP system, other remaining controls will consist of either submission of a statement or declaration to, or a prior authorization from, the Authorities, depending upon European or non-European applicant's origin.

On January 19, 1999, the Government reversed its policy and decided to support total freedom for encryption. A proposal will be submitted to the Parliament to rescind the 1966 law, which will take several months. In the meantime, the Government has decided to authorize 128 bits encryption ; besides present restrictions on the supply of encryption means will be softened and the status ot TTP will be eased.

A French Court, the Tribunal de Draguignan, has ruled that the website address "www.nova.fr/saint-tropez" was infringing upon the trade-mark "Saint Tropez" registered by the City of Saint-Tropez. The Court granted damages to the City of Saint Tropez and ordered that its decision be published on the infringing website.

On August 4, 1994, French law-makers issued legislation devised to broadly protect the tongue of Moliere and Racine from the encroachment of foreign languages, particularly English, which is the main threat to the integrity of the French national tongue. Article 2 of the law known as "Loi Toubon", the name of the then-Culture Minister Jacques Toubon, provides that: " The use of French shall be mandatory for the designation, offer, presentation, instructions for use, and description of the scope and conditions of a warranty of goods, products and services, as well as bills and receipts." The law further provides that violations may be subject to a fine up to FF 4,000 adjudicated by a misdemeanors Court, the "Tribunal de simple police". The recent case of the Georgia Institute of Technology has focused the attention of the Internet community on French-only language on the Internet. The European Platform of the Institute, located in Metz (France) and named Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) opened a web site located on a French Internet Server with a French domain name, georgiatech-metz.fr., to promote only in English its postgraduate programs and offer a guide to the campus. GTL's website was in English because all the teaching is done in English and all the students are required to be fluent in English. Obviously, because English is a requirement, GTL did not see any reason to use French on its web site. Two French private groups for the Defense and the Future of the French language brought a lawsuit against GTL, alleging that GTL had violated the "Loi Toubon" and claiming damages in the amount of 20,000 FF (roughly 3,400 $). They further requested that GTL be ordered to make its site available in French. One argument often put forward against allowing English-only web sites in France is that discrimination might develop among French people between a class knowledgeable in English and another class illiterate in the language of Shakespeare. The case came before Court on January 6, 1997 and was eventually dismissed on June 9, 1997 merely on procedural grounds: the Court made the decision that the legal action should have been initiated by the Government, not by the private plaintiffs. Thus, the Court did not make any decision on the language issue, which was the central one. But at least the attempt to apply the "Loi Toubon" to the Internet in France ended in a fiasco. In any event, GTL revised its site to include other languages, French and German as well. The case stirred-up a lot of criticism and humor on so-called French cultural arrogance and reasons why France feared the Internet in English. Things are different today. In a recent speech, the French Prime Minister stressed the necessity for France to catch-up with the Internet. He also stated that freedom to communicate must be the rule applied in France, and that it is up to the users to regulate the Web by themselves. Moreover, the current Culture Minister has said that the time has come when the French people should no longer consider English to be a foreign language.

The European Parliament has issued a Directive dated December 13, 1999 on a Community framework for electronic signatures: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/dat/2000/l_013/l_01320000119en00120020.pdf>

Associations for fight against anti-semitism and racism have complained about a violation of the French law by Yahoo because of auction sale in the United States of Nazi objects, presented as vestiges of WW II.

Yahoo Inc. and its French subsidiary  were called to Court in a summary procedure under the allegation that the auction sale of such things is prohibited in France, though the Net surfers of the whole world have free access to the sale, thanks to the transnational character of the planetary network.

The question, which was extensively debated in Court, has been whether it is possible to remove access of the French Net surfers to the auction sale in the United States. 

As a matter-of-fact, if the auction sale had been broadcast on TV, any French viewer would have had access to the sale if relayed by satellites. But France has a long tradition of restricting information and safeguarding secrecy, specially in political matters, where for instance the private life of highest dignitaries is de facto protected as "State Secrets". Most often, the ordinary citizen is regarded as immature by the authorities and the administration, as if he or she was unable to show a sound judgment by him/herself.

The Court has rendered its judgement on November 20, 2000. View the text in English.