Man has his France.com Domain Seized by the Country, So He’s Suing Them

Cyrus Farivar, writing for Ars Technica:

[…] sometime around 2015, that very same ministry initiated a lawsuit in France in an attempt to wrest control of the France.com domain away from Frydman.

By September 2017, the Paris Court of Appeals ruled that France.com was violating French trademark law.

and…

[…] on March 12, 2018, Web.com abruptly transferred ownership of the domain to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The company did so without any formal notification to Frydman and no compensation.

I wouldn’t blame Web.com — it seems like they had to follow the rule of the law, but not notifying an old client of theirs of such a thing — that’s just lousy and also very bad customer service.

This story also makes me wonder how much of our identities — what people know us for — are dependent on a single decision maker at some online service company. It’s incredibly scary how easy it is for someone to flick a switch, for example, and stop you from accessing your primary domain, email address, or account.

April 30, 2018 ✚ Permalink

Apple Being Probed Over iPhone Planned Obsolescence in France

Natasha Lomas, writing for TechCrunch:

Programmed obsolescence is illegal in France under a 2015 law which prohibits “the use of techniques by which the person responsible for the marketing of a product aims to deliberately reduce the duration to increase the replacement rate “.

The law carries a penalty of a maximum sentence of two years in prison and up to 5 per cent of a company’s annual turnover.

AFP cites a judicial source stating that the Paris prosecutor’s office of the Directorate General of Competition, Consumption and Repression of Frauds opened a preliminary investigation against Apple on January 5, for “programmed obsolescence” and “deception”.

This whole thing is getting pretty nasty for Apple now.

January 9, 2018 ✚ Permalink