Wikileaks Reveals NSA Spying On French Presidents

from the is-that-really-a-big-deal? dept

Wikileaks has released some new documents showing that the NSA spied on the communications of a bunch of French Presidents.

The top secret documents derive from directly targeted NSA surveillance of the communications of French Presidents Francois Hollande (2012–present), Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012), and Jacques Chirac (1995–2007), as well as French cabinet ministers and the French Ambassador to the United States. The documents also contain the "selectors" from the target list, detailing the cell phone numbers of numerous officials in the Elysee up to and including the direct cell phone of the President.

Prominent within the top secret cache of documents are intelligence summaries of conversations between French government officials concerning some of the most pressing issues facing France and the international community, including the global financial crisis, the Greek debt crisis, the leadership and future of the European Union, the relationship between the Hollande administration and the German government of Angela Merkel, French efforts to determine the make-up of the executive staff of the United Nations, French involvement in the conflict in Palestine and a dispute between the French and US governments over US spying on France.

To be honest, as with the spying on leadership of other allies like Germany, I really don't think this is that big of a deal in reality. This is what intelligence services are supposed to be doing: spying on foreign governments. The revelations may make for some awkward diplomatic conversations, but you can bet that pretty much everyone knew this was going on already.

But, where this has the potential to get interesting is in the public perception. If the public gets angry about it, it can create international tensions, or lead to various other issues. But, on the whole, compared to spying on private citizens, it's difficult to get too outraged over spying on other governments -- even those deemed "friendly." You can bet the French are doing everything they can to spy back on the US as well.

Filed Under: france, francois hollande, french presidents, jacques chirac, nicolas sarkozy, nsa, privacy, surveillance, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks

Good News: You Can Now Call France's President A Jerk

from the what-year-is-this? dept

When it comes to the kind of speech that some people don't like, our wine-drinking friends in Europe haven't always done so well. You may recall the battle between the French and Twitter over some dumb, bigoted tweets and the identities behind them. Or perhaps you'll recall the French government working with Twitter to suspend several accounts that were parodies of then-President and Anthony Wiener look-a-like Nicolas Sarkozy. While free speech in Europe isn't always so fleshed out as it is here in the colonies, France in particular appears to have some severely antiquated laws on the books. One of the more egregious is that it was apparently illegal to "offend the head of state", i.e. the President, a law dating back to 1881.

Well, heads up all you French Presidents out there, because that law has officially been amended after just barely over a century, according to the news sent in by reader RyanNerd.

Whereas before any rude remark risked an automatic fine for “offending the head of state”, the president is now reduced to the same category as ministers and parliamentarians and would need to have a judge prove there had been slander or defamation.

The change came after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in March that France violated a demonstrator’s right to freedom of expression when it fined him for holding a banner up to former President Nicolas Sarkozy reading: “Get lost, jerk.”

On the off chance any of you don't keep up with your Google alerts for news relating to French Presidents and their ironic double-standards, "Get lost, jerk" was a statement Sarkozy made to someone who once refused to shake his hand in 2008. Whereas before you couldn't call Sarkozy a thin-skinned walking phalus for his actions, hey, now you can. No more $50k fine!

Of course, Sarkozy is no longer President and Francois Hollande is, so let's see what you've got, French citizens!

President Francois Hollande has so far shown a thick skin, however, as critics have given him a string of unkind nicknames like “Flanby”, a brand of wobbly caramel pudding or “Mr. Little Jokes”.

Oh, okay. Well, look, you can't really blame the French for crappy insults. They've been out of practice for over a hundred years. I would suggest, however, that congratulating a man for being thick-skinned when he comes from the stock that brought us skin-growing breakfasts like eggs benedict might be unnecessary.

Filed Under: france, free speech, french presidents, insults