French département provides sixth graders with iPads

If you've been lusting after an iPad since its launch in April this year, then you might wish you were back at school.

Well at least if you live in the French département of Corrèze.

That's because its conseil général (or general council) has taken the decision to provide the département's 2,500 sixth grade schoolchildren (11 to 12-year-olds) and their 800 teachers with the very latest Apple technology - the iPad.

Snapshot from Apple iPad video

Now if you're having trouble locating the Corrèze, don't worry. It's described as being in "south central France" and it's one of the smaller départements, in terms of population.

The largest, and best-known city is Brive-la-Gaillarde, although the capital (if you will) is the smaller town of Tulle.

For the Brits amongst you, Corrèze is bordered to the southwest by the département of Dordogne.

Anyway, back to those 3,300 iPads. They'll be equipped with educational software and, said the spokesman for the council, Jacques Spindler, the total cost of the operation which will take until the end of December, will be €1.5 million.

"According to Apple, it's a first both in France and Europe," he told Agence France Presse.

Corrèze is no stranger to investing in technology for its schoolchildren.

In 2008 it issued fifth graders (12 to 13-year-olds) and their teachers with laptops with the aim that at the end of three-years they would become the owners.

"At the end of this academic year we'll assess whether to this experiment (with the iPad) has been successful and whether it'll be extended," said Spindler.

Supreme Court rules pornographic images at work aren't illegal

La Cour de Cassation in France, or the country's Supreme court, has overturned a decision made by an industrial tribunal and an appeals courts which had both upheld the dismissal of an employee who downloaded pornographic images at work.

The case dates back to 2002, when a worker at the carmaker Peugeot Citroën in the western city of Rennes was fired after pornographic images he had downloaded were discovered on computer at work.

He took his case to an industrial tribunal and to the Court of Appeal in Rennes, but in both instances the ruling went in favour of the employer.

His last chance was la Cour de Cassation which, it has been revealed, last month ruled in his favour.

It accepted his arguments that the employer had no right to access what were private and personal files and that saving images on his computer had in no way had an impact on his ability to do his job.

"The saving of three files containing pornographic pictures, which were not criminal in nature, did not constitute grounds that would justify dismissal," the Court ruled, adding that the outcome of the case would have been different had the images been "unlawful" such as ones of a paedophile nature.

In effect the ruling found that the employee had been unfairly fired and the case has been referred the matter back to the appeals court to determine how much compensation he is now entitled to.