Law and Innovation

Fresh and interesting article from Reuters about  U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) collecting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal email and instant messaging (IM) accounts around the world: 'The collection program intercepts email address books and "buddy lists" from instant messaging services as they move across global data links, the newspaper said in an article posted on its website, citing senior intelligence officials and documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The Post said analyzing that data lets the NSA search for connections and map relationships among foreign intelligence targets. The data collection takes place outside the United States, but sweeps in the contacts of many Americans, the report said, citing two senior U.S. intelligence officials. A spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA, said the agency is focused on discovering and developing intelligence about foreig...

S ix months ago, Facebook finally decided to go after Google, Yahoo, etc. with a new search product called Graph Search. Yesterday, Facebook's Graph Search feature was rolling out to everyone. What do you need to know about it? Not much... (the new logo maybe?) About your privacy settings? A bit more ... About the way you use Facebook?  It depends (as always) on what you like on Facebook... perhaps in the way you search for pictures... but otherwise, this new search product did not really convince me. This morning, you probably realized that when you clicked on your notification button (at least on your laptop; not on your smartphone), Facebook asked you, under the privacy button, to "okay" a new tip. Tip: Graph Search is rolling out now, so it's getting easier for people to find photos and other things you've shared with them. To check who can see your stuff, just click [the privacy button]. I was surprised to see it there and not on the top of ...

Google Invokes First Amendment In The NSA PRISM Scandal  I t will not surprised me that Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo's Offices are under monitoring surveillance right now. Revelations about the PRISM program are not only revealing crispy details on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance methods, opening new debates about national security vs. personal privacy, but are also provoking fissures between U.S. Officials and all the technology companies involved in it; mostly Google. Yesterday, Google filed a " motion for declaratory judgement [1] of Google Inc.'s first amendment right to publish aggregate information about FISA Orders " (click here ). As you all know, the First Amendment states that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press (underlined added) ; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition...

Introduction             S ince 2007, we are living in a world where the most used and important verb is ... TO SHARE. Indeed, we are constantly sharing all type of information/data (pictures, articles, videos, emails) sometimes even without realizing it anymore. Perhaps, we are becoming so obsessed by this 'sharing culture' that when we see amazing pictures on a social network or that a friend is travelling around the world for instance, we don't really pay attention anymore or, at least, we tend to believe that 'it's normal'. But 2007 is also the year when Facebook started to expand its business, Apple launched its first generation of IPhone, Google opened Gmail for everyone, etc. In other words, with these new technologies, data become more important than before... Of course, PRISM was also created! Yesterday, a prism was just transparent optical element that refracts light.. Today, it is considered as one of the bigges...