France’s new data retention law requires online service providers to retain databases of their users’ addresses, real names and passwords, and to supply these to police on demand. Leaving aside the risk of retaining all this personal information (identity thieves, stalkers, etc — that which isn’t stored can’t be stolen and leaked), there’s the risk of requiring providers to store plaintext unhashed passwords, as Bruce Schneier points out.
“unhashed” of course meaning “unencrypted”. “In the clear”. “Ripe for the picking.” This idea is, how you say, “trés stupide.” I can’t imagine that tech companies all over France aren’t now looking to move their operations elsewhere.