Actually, it's peut être: "Cryptographic backdoors? France says, “Non!”

January 19, 2016

So emphatic, but still open to question.  Maybe this is intended to influence the UK parliamentary debate, but it's confusing.   

It’s not the French government, but the Minister for Digital Stuff.  French intelligence programs are still kept very close hold, with only a few political types in the national security realm being informed.   Maybe this Minister knows, maybe they don't. 

France has extensive surveillance authorities.  Renouncing "backdoors" does not mean endorsement of unrecoverable encryption. 

It says "non' to “vulnerability by design”  which is one technique among many, and no agency's first choice.  So not much of a sacrifice.  The pro-encryption types have inaccurately cast the debate as over back doors, but this is just semantic kabuki.  Saying you will never order tripe does not make you a vegetarian. 

Security agencies in France used to ask companies for source code and access.  Maybe this has changed, but I suspect the Paris attacks affected this.  I admire the French, who are by no means pikers when it comes to this business, but with more than 1,000 French nationals fighting for ISIS, they face an immense problem.