Stories by Peter Sayer

Huawei's Ascend P6 smartphone has 5-megapixel front camera to watch you with

Huawei's much-leaked Ascend P6 smartphone is the world's thinnest at 6.18 millimeters, and has the highest-resolution front-facing camera at 5 megapixels, the company claimed at the phone's London launch.

French appeals court confirms Twitter must identify authors of racist tweets

A French court of appeal has rejected a move by Twitter seeking to shield the identities of those responsible for posts last year contravening French laws on hate speech and carrying the hashtag #unbonjuif (a good Jew).

France Télécom CEO charged with conspiracy to defraud

France Télécom's CEO Stéphane Richard has been charged with conspiracy to defraud, a Paris court announced Wednesday. The charge relates to alleged activities before he joined the company.

Study finds voice-controlled interfaces distract drivers

When talking or texting, drivers take longer to hit the brakes -- even if they're not hitting tiny keyboards, researchers at the University of Utah have found.

Tibco Software acquires event processing specialist StreamBase Systems

Tibco Software has added streaming capabilities to its event-processing portfolio with the acquisition of StreamBase Systems.

Take Silver Lake's money and run, Dell advises shareholders

Dell has written to shareholders they are better off accepting a bid from Michael Dell and Silver Lake to acquire the company than holding on to their shares.

French police end missing persons searches, suggest using Facebook instead

The latest victim of disruption by Internet technologies is a veteran of World War I: the missing persons search.

France should soften Internet 'three strikes' law, says gov't report

France should stop cutting off the Internet access of those accused of illicit file sharing, and close down the agency that polices online copyright breaches, according to a government-commissioned report.

Dell board warns Icahn bid could leave the company short of cash

A plan proposed by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management last week as an alternative to Michael Dell's proposal to take his namesake company private would leave it short of cash, Dell's board warned the bidders on Monday.

Mobile phone apps view private data more than necessary, says French study

Mobile phone apps are accessing users' private data and transmitting it to remote servers far more than appears strictly necessary, while users have inadequate tools to monitor or control such access, according to a new study by two French government agencies.

French government agency forced Wikipedia volunteer to delete entry

A French intelligence agency ordered a Wikipedia volunteer to delete a page about a military radio relay last month, alleging the page contained classified military information.

Six European privacy regulators launch formal investigations of Google's privacy policy

Six European data protection authorities will conduct formal investigations of Google's privacy policy after the company repeatedly rejected their requests that it reverse changes it made to the policy last March, they announced Tuesday.

Disruptive French entrepreneur will train programmers for free

Xavier Niel, the founder of disruptive French ISP and mobile operator Free, is setting up a training school for programmers.

French Jewish Students' Union seeks €38.5M in criminal damages from Twitter

The French Jewish Students' Union has filed a lawsuit seeking €38.5 million (US$50 million) in criminal damages from Twitter and its CEO Dick Costolo over the company's failure to identify those responsible for a series of antisemite posts last October. Twitter retorted that the union was "grandstanding."

French regulator says Skype must register as a telco or risk prosecution

The French Telecommunications and Posts Regulator, ARCEP, has referred Skype to the Paris public prosecutor, asking it to investigate whether Skype has failed to comply with an obligation to register as a telecommunications operator. Registered operators must provide emergency calling services and allow for lawful interception of communications.