Update: France's former domestic spy chief's notes reveal extent of French domestic espionage

11/18/2008: The Economist reports that the recently released notes of former French domestic intelligence chief Yves Bertrand, recorded during his 12-year tenure in his domestic intelligence leadership post, reveal the depths of France's intelligence culture.  The timing of the notes' release, which document rumors about French political leaders, coincides with French President Nicolas Sarkozy's controversial plans to computerize all intelligence files into a super-database called EDVIGE.

9/10/08: Breitbart.com reports that the French public are angry over a new security database called Edvige.  The new system replaces a 1991 system that tracked politicians, labor leaders and other activists—anyone who resorted to violence or supported the use of violence.  Edvige goes further, by collecting personal information such as heath and sexual orientation, and lowering the minimum age for tracking from 18 to 13, and tracking anyone considered a "possible threat to public order."