2023-07-06 10:08:27
On July 5, MPs voted to activate remote telephones in order to trace certain people in the context of judicial inquiries. A technique that adds to a technological arsenal of surveillance increasingly present in France.
No need to install microphones in your home, nor to place geolocation terminals, our multiple connected devices do the job very well. After validation by the Senate in June, the National Assembly voted at first reading on Wednesday July 5 to remotely activate telephones (or other connected devices). This makes it possible to trigger geolocation, microphone and camera in the context of judicial investigations. This measure is part of of a law aimed at modifying criminal procedure.
The technique of telephone snitches is already used by the intelligence services, but it is now extended to judicial inquiries, provided that a judge’s authorization is obtained. It must also be limited in time: a period of 15 days, renewable once.
Geolocation possible for crimes and misdemeanors punishable by 5 years of imprisonment
Not all citizens are affected by this intrusion. Since the phone can be activated remotely only in the context of certain legal investigations. Remote geolocation can concern any crime and misdemeanor punishable by at least 5 years in prison. The capture of images and sound is only possible for investigations concerning organized crimes and terrorism, specifies LCP..
In addition, certain professions will be spared by this new measure: lawyers, magistrates, parliamentarians, doctors and journalists. Certain professions also working on sensitive subjects are worried about not appearing on this list, like researchers or journalists who do not hold a press card, because it is a condition for being spared from these eavesdropping.
The (not so laughable) question of sex toys
These precautions do not reassure the left of the hemicycle which voted against the law, nor the organizations which defend digital freedoms. LFI deputies were particularly concerned that any connected object could serve as a snitch. Including, first, sex toys. An amendment aimed at excluding them was proposed by MP Ugo Bernalicis (LFI), before being mocked by Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti, who does not technically see how this is possible (he should read the specialized press from time to time). The proliferation of connected objects for the general public, capturing images and sounds, undoubtedly deserved that we dwell on this question.
In addition, other concerns relate to the extension of the law to other offenses in the years to come. “Experience shows us that once a measure is authorized, successive laws then enlarge its scope”, explains Noémie Levain, lawyer for La Quadrature du net, at Reporterre.
Drones, algorithmic video surveillance and facial recognition
If the law irritates certain parties and observers so much, it is also because it adds to an already well-stocked technological arsenal to monitor citizens in France. First of all, the case of drones which, despite their fairly strict supervision, are very regularly used to fly over events of greater or lesser magnitude, authorized by the prefectures. Another recently trivialized tool: algorithmic video surveillance, which makes it possible to detect so-called suspicious behavior in public spaces. In March 2023, the deputies voted for its use during the 2024 Olympics.
Finally, facial recognition – which was nevertheless a scarecrow after excessive use during the Covid crisis – is making a comeback in the texts of the law. On June 14, the Senate passed a text authorizing the use of facial recognition in public space as an experiment. “The text provides for the exploitation in the aftermath images by intelligence services or the police. Which, in fact, already exists: in 2021, 498,871 requests were made in the processing of criminal records, ”noted the journalist specializing in these issues, Olivier Tesquet, on Twitter. But the law also provides for its use “for the sole purpose of ensuring the safety of major sporting, recreational or cultural events. […] particularly exposed to the risk of acts of terrorism. The text must now be examined in the Assembly.
⚠️ Some hot thoughts on the worrying bill installing real-time facial recognition in public space, adopted yesterday by the Senate. Welcome to permanent and general identity control.https://t.co/FfapDRA4la
— Olivier Tesquet (@oliviertesquet) June 13, 2023
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