Microsoft

Macron, Google and Amazon: the documents the Élysée wanted to stay secret

France — Investigation

The Élysée cited business confidentiality when it refused to provide Mediapart with correspondence between presidential advisors and Amazon, Google and others giants of the digital world dating from 2017. However, Mediapart pursued the matter and after a lengthy process the administrative court in Paris found in our favour and we now have access to these documents. Like the recent 'Uber Files' controversy, they show just how closely aligned the thinking and approach of these technological groups is with that of Macron and his entourage. And also like the Uber case, they reveal that a business lobbyist from one of the groups – in this case  Amazon - took part in Emmanuel Macron's 2017 presidential campaign. Alexandre Léchenet reports.

French data protection watchdog slams Windows 10

International — Link

The CNIL said Microsoft was collecting 'excessive' amounts of data not needed for the software to operate, and browser spying 'without consent'.

'It was child's play': how a hacker broke into MEPs' secret email accounts

International — Investigation

A hacker using elementary computer equipment and what he described as “a few bits of knowledge that everyone is capable of finding on the internet” has succeeded in accessing confidential emails and personal files of Members of the European Parliament, their assistants and even the institution’s IT experts, Mediapart can reveal. The operation was, he said, mounted as a demonstration of the vulnerability of security at both the parliament in Strasbourg and also among many national administrations which use software, notably that of Microsoft, that experts have for years warned is exposed to espionage manipulations through fundamental - and what some suggest are possibly deliberate - flaws. While the scandal of mass surveillance employed by the US National Security Agency continues to unfold, Jérôme Hourdeaux reports on how major public institutions like the European Parliament continue to expose themselves to almost mundane intrusion of confidential data.

France demands Skype register as telecommunications operator

France — Link

Telecommunications regulator ARCEP wants Microsoft's Skype to stop avoiding its 'duties and obligations' under French law.