According to a BBC News report, at least 30 people have been injured and 21 have been arrested after a planned celebratory parade for PSG turned violent. Protesters were reportedly sporadically clashing with police for hours before the city was back under police control. A boat ride for PSG players and a trophy presentation scheduled for Wednesday have been cancelled.

The violence reportedly began when thousands of PSG fans grew restless while waiting for PSG players to show up at an event. Riot police fired tear gas and smoke bombs as fans threw rocks and other objects at police. The violence spilled out to the Champs-Elysees, where restaurants closed early and storefronts were vandalized.

PSG has issued a statement, saying that the riot was caused by “a few hundred troublemakers who have nothing to do with football.” The statement, in full:

The party was spoiled by a few hundred troublemakers who have nothing to do with football and even less with those that fill the Parc des Princes on match days with such passion and enthusiasm and in total security.

All the members of the club, the players and the directors, express to all those loyal and passionate fans their heartfelt regret that today’s trophy presentation ceremony had to be cut short.

The celebrations will continue this Saturday at the Parc des Princes for the Ligue 1 match against Brest, when the club and its fans will unite in the joy of Paris Saint-Germain’s first league title in 19 years.

Paris Saint-Germain is more determined than ever to build a huge European club, worthy of the French capital, and far removed from those intent on trying to destroy that dream.

According to an International Business Times report, a 52-year-old woman fell down a 300-meter cliff while walking with friends. Vultures immediately took to the body, reducing it to only clothes and bones in less than one hour.

The event has highlighted calls by some farmers in France to be able to kill the Griffon vulture, a protected species that has been turning to attacking livestock. Recent European Union laws have required dead animal carcasses, a staple of the vultures’ diets, to be burnt to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. According to the IBT report, this policy has “critically” lowered the food available for the vultures.

Farmers are now making compensation claims for livestock killed or carried off by the birds. Hunters have also complained of the vultures stealing their kills. The birds, which can grow to have 9-foot wingspans and live over 40 years in captivity, are also reportedly spreading out further into Europe in search of food.

(Image courtesy Ingrid Taylar/Wikimedia Commons)

Here’s my attempt to make a long story short:

Back in October of 2012, a hashtag emerged on Twitter that many users found exceedingly offensive. The hashtag, #unbonjuif, roughly translates to “a good jew.” Some Twitter users jumped on the hashtag, posting photos of dust-filled dustpans and other anti-Semitic jokes alongside the hashtag.

A handful of French anti-racism groups called out Twitter, asking that the site remove all of the offending tweets. Eventually, as the pressure mounted, Twitter complied.

But some of the groups, including the French Jewish Students Union (UEJF), decided to push Twitter a bit further. They demanded that Twitter give up the names of all of the users associated with the #unbonjuif tweets, so that they could be prosecuted under local anti-hate speech laws. Twitter wasn’t too keen on this idea, and that led the UEJF to file a summons against the company back in November.

In January, a French court ruled that Twitter must provide the identities of the requested users, to comply with French law. Twitter said that they would review the decision.

And that brings us up to date. The UEJF has officially taken action against Twitter, suing them for roughly $50 million for failing to carry through with the court’s order. Twitter apparently had two weeks to hand over the names, and that time has come and gone.

“Twitter is playing the indifference card and does not respect the ruling,” said UEJF President Jonathan Hayoun. “They have resolved to protect the anonymity of the authors of these tweets and have made themselves accomplices to racists and anti-Semites.”

Twitter reserves the right to give up any information it holds on users if requested by law enforcement or by a court order. They say so in their terms of service – this is not part of the debate. In the past, however, Twitter has gone to bat to protect user privacy when they sense some government overreach. In September of 2012, Twitter gave in to the Manhattan D.A.’s office and gave up the deleted, inaccessible tweets of an Occupy Wall Street protester – but only after they fought it tooth and nail.

You may remember that they also blocked a neo-Nazi account in Germany last year, utilizing their self-appointed authority to censor content locally if they saw fit. Blocking or removing content is one thing, but disclosing the identities of users in order to aid in regional hate-speech laws is a different ballgame.

[UEJF via JTA]

At the time, Google shared the following statement (via TechCrunch):

“Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services. We have engaged fully with the CNIL throughout this process, and we’ll continue to do so going forward.”

Now, The Telegraph is reporting that CNIL said Google will be called to appear in “the coming weeks” and could face “repressive action” if failing to give “precise and effective” responses to its privacy recommendations.

This is all related to the big privacy policy consolidation that Google implemented last year, which makes it possible for the company to use data from one of its services to improve the experience of its other services. I’m sure you recall the story.

In October, CNIL announced recommendations for clearer information for people regarding the policy, and for Google to give users more control over the combination of data from its various services.

Friday will mark one year since the new policy went into pace.

As you may know, Google consolidated a slew of its various privacy policies last year into one core policy, which enables it to share data from one of its products to the next.

TechCrucnh points to a new statement on the CNIL site, which is in French. Here’s the roughly translated (via Google Translate) version:

After several months of investigation by the CNIL, the authorities of European data protection issued on 16 October 2012, their joint conclusions on the new rules Google’s privacy. They recommended a clearer information and better control people by users of the combination of data between the various services offered by Google. Finally, Google said they wanted the retention periods of data. At the expiration of four months allowed Google to come into compliance and commit to the implementation of these recommendations, no response has been provided by the company.

On 18 February, the European authorities find that Google does not give a precise answer and operational recommendations. Under these circumstances, they are determined to act and pursue their investigations. They propose the establishment of a working group, led by the CNIL, to coordinate their enforcement action, which should take place before the summer.

The action plan envisaged by the authorities at a meeting held in Paris in late January, will be submitted for validation G29 – the group of European CNIL – on the occasion of the Plenary on 26 February.

TechCrunch shares the following statement from Google:

“Our privacy policy respects European law and allows us to create simpler, more effective services. We have engaged fully with the CNIL throughout this process, and we’ll continue to do so going forward.”

Even while Google continues to fight backlash over its policy, which has been in effect for nearly a year, the company continues to work on getting more up close and personal with users, and may even be working on ways to make your actual life searchable.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is still trying to “educate” people about Google’s privacy practices that have been around for nearly a decade, when it comes to Gmail.

Reuters called the agreement “a deal on payment of media links”. That’s certainly what it feels like. Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt explained the deal:

First, Google has agreed to create a €60 million Digital Publishing Innovation Fund to help support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers. Second, Google will deepen our partnership with French publishers to help increase their online revenues using our advertising technology.

This exciting announcement builds on the commitments we made in 2011 to increase our investment in France—including our Cultural Institute in Paris to help preserve amazing cultural treasures such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These agreements show that through business and technology partnerships we can help stimulate digital innovation for the benefit of consumers, our partners and the wider web.

From the sound of it, however, we shouldn’t expect this to set a precedent for how we’re going to see Google operate around the globe. For one, in Germany (where Google has been facing a simliar battle), publishers aren’t all that interested in a deal like the one in France, as it would be a Google-specific “solution” to their problem, and wouldn’t apply to other search engines.

For that matter, Google is not looking to enter similar agreements with publishers in other countries. TechCrunch reports that Google has no plans to create “digital innovation” funds for publishers outside of France. The publication shares this statement from a Google spokesperson:

“While we are always happy to talk to publishers about additional ideas for driving traffic, engagement, and monetization, we are not currently looking to create a fund outside France.”

Google did reach an agreement with publishers in Belgium in December, following six years of litigation, but it did not involve one of these funds. Rather, as part of that agreement, Google said it would advertise its services on publishers’ media, and publishers would optimize their use of AdWords. Google would also work with Belgian French-language publishers to “help increase publishers’ revenue,” collaborating on ways to make money with Paywalls and subscriptions, and with AdSense and the Ad Exchange. Google would also work with Belgian publishers to implement Google+ social tools and launch YouTube channels.

When Google announced that deal, it said it would like to come to similar terms with publishers around the world, so we may be seeing more of this type of “solution,” rather than Google just funding publishers. As we’re seeing, each country’s publishers has a unique view of the situation, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to see a worldwide standard.

In Brazil, publishers have gone so far as to simply pull out of Google News.

Google and publishers in France have not been seeing eye to eye for quite some time. In October, the company spoke out about a proposal by French lawmakers, backed by publishers, which would seek for search engines to license content in order to have the privilege of linking to it.

At the time, Google’s Director of Public Policy in France said, “The web has led to an explosion of content creation, by both professional and citizen journalists. So it’s not a secret that we think a law like the one proposed in France and Germany would be very damaging to the internet. We have said so publicly for three years.”

“In order to shed light on the reasons that lead us to believe that this law is detrimental to French users, innovation on the Internet and ultimately to the news publishers themselves, we decided to post the note in its entirety,” he said. “We have always been and remain committed to collaborate with French Publishers associations as they experiment and develop sustainable economic models on the Internet.”

On Friday, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, announced with President Francois Hollande, two initiatives to “help stimulate innovation and increase revenues” for French publishers.

Reuters reports it as “a deal on payment of media links,” as described by a Reuters journalist present at the signing.

Google has agreed to create a €60 million fund called the DIgital Publishing Innovation Fund to “help support transformative digital publishing initiatives for French readers.” Google says it will also “deepen” its partnership with French publishers to help increase their online revenues using Google’s ad technology.

“This exciting announcement builds on the commitments we made in 2011 to increase our investment in France—including our Cultural Institute in Paris to help preserve amazing cultural treasures such as the Dead Sea Scrolls,” said Schmidt. “These agreements show that through business and technology partnerships we can help stimulate digital innovation for the benefit of consumers, our partners and the wider web.”

The announcement follows a similar one Google made in December, when it reached an agreement with publishers in Belgium after six years of litigation, which saw publishers sue Google claiming that it violated their copyrights by displaying snippets in Google News and linking to cached copies of their pages in Google search.

As part of the agreement in Belgium, Google said it would advertise its services on publishers’ media, and publishers would optimize their use of AdWords. Google would also work with Belgian French-language publishers to “help increase publishers’ revenue,” collaborating on ways to make money with Paywalls and subscriptions, and with AdSense and the Ad Exchange. Google would also work with Belgian publishers to implement Google+ social tools and launch YouTube channels.

At the time, Google had indicated it would like to come to similar terms with publishers around the world, and it looks like today’s announcement is the next step in that.

It’s going to be quite interesting to see how Google deals with the rest of the countries with publishers who have voiced similar concerns as those in France.

The drug, Diane-35, is a hormonal acne treatment, but was begin prescribed as contraceptives to hundreds of thousands of women in France. The medication was found to have played a role in at least four deaths. Blood clots in other women have also been linked to the medication.

The suspension will roll out over the course of months, allowing women enough time to find alternate contraceptive methods.

The director of the ANSM, Dominique Maraninchi, told the AFP that the drug is not licensed for use as a contraceptive. He emphasized that there are many other contraceptives available to French women.

The AFP report states that the ANSM has requested a change in prescription guidelines for third and fourth generation oral contraceptives (such as Diane-35), which have higher blood clot risks.

This suspension is similar to one ANSM issued in November 2009. At that time, at drug marketed as “Mediator” (benfluorex) was pulled from pharmacy shelves after it was linked to hundreds of deaths in France. The drug was approved for the treatment of diabetes, but was often prescribed as an appetite suppressant for overweight patients.

Should Internet data be taxed anywhere? Let us know what you think.

Eric Pfanner at The New York Times explains:

The report published Friday said a tax on data collection was justified on grounds that users of services like Google and Facebook are, in effect, working for these companies without pay by providing the personal information that lets them sell advertising.

The report says tax rates would be based on the number of users an Internet firm tracked, to be verified by outside auditors. The authors did not recommend tax rates or estimate how much money such a levy could raise.

Obviously the idea has been controversial, and has drawn a great deal of criticism. For example, Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider says the “French view of the Internet will make you want to pull your hair out,” adding, “Users are not, ‘in effect’ or otherwise, ‘working for these companies without pay by providing the personal information that lets them sell advertising. They are using products for free! NO ONE IS MAKING THEM USE FACEBOOK OR GOOGLE, SHEESH.”

Google is reportedly reviewing the report. Perhaps we’ll see a blog post about it from Google in the future.

France has been looking at Google’s tax practices for a couple years now, as the French government has accused the company (and others) of playing the tax system by placing their European operations in places like Ireland or Luxembourg, where tax rates are lower.

On Thursday, French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said France has decided to go after all big Internet firms “curbing legal tax avoidance,” as Reuters puts it, to collect payment of back taxes. Reporter Brian Love writes:

The government had decided, Montebourg said on France 2 television, “to launch tax retrieval procedures covering all of the Internet giants”.

He did not elaborate and it was not clear whether the comment, made in a wide-ranging interview about French industry, referred specifically to existing tax investigations of the Internet search engine and retail giants Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN), or was suggesting a broader campaign.

Amazon received a $252 million back tax bill from the French government in November.

Meanwhile, talks between Google and publishers in France over payments for links are at a stand-still, according to ZDNet, which cites French newspaper Le Monde. We reported on this situation last fall, when Google prepared a note about a link tax proposal by French lawmakers (backed by the publishers).

Google’s Director of Public Policy in France, Oliver Esper, said at the time, “The web has led to an explosion of content creation, by both professional and citizen journalists. So it’s not a secret that we think a law like the one proposed in France and Germany would be very damaging to the internet. We have said so publicly for three years.”

He later added, “We have always been and remain committed to collaborate with French Publishers associations as they experiment and develop sustainable economic models on the Internet.”

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt met with Hollande back in the fall to discuss the proposal, and the parties involved were supposed to resolve their issues by the end of the year (at least as far as the president was concerned), but so far, it sounds like little has been resolved.

As far as Internet taxes go, while French regulators’ plans may be designed to go after big companies like Google, where are the lines drawn? Will smaller players be affected as well? The very nature of the Internet is global, and that includes France.

Is this a good idea on France’s part? Let us know what you think.

Instead, they suggest that people use the French term “mot-dièse,” which literally translates to “sharp word” – as in the musical symbol for a sharp. The government isn’t banning its citizens from using the word “hashtag,” but they will be officially replacing it with “mot-dièse” on all official documents and accounts.

The Legifrance government page has a definition page for mot-dièse:

Suite signifiante de caractères sans espace commençant par le signe # (dièse), qui signale un sujet d’intérêt et est insérée dans un message par son rédacteur afin d’en faciliter le repérage.

With the aid of Google translate, that means “Suite signifying characters without spaces starting with # (hash), which indicates a topic of interest and is inserted into a message to his editor in easy identification.” So a hashtag, but not really.

Some French Twitter users have been quick to point out the the musical sharp symbol is not perfectly swappable with the hashtag, as the sharp symbol has a slightly different lean to it.

This news comes in the same week that a French court ruled that Twitter must give up the identities of some anti-Semitic users following a scandal involving an offensive hashtag.

[The Local via Huffington Post]