Citizen control is getting tighter in France. The new law has been criticized as taking the country in an even more authoritarian direction.
The colors of the French flag have been said to represent freedom, fraternity and equality. From these, freedom is starting to be a bit questionable. Colourbox
France, full of protests, accepted on Wednesday 5.7. a law that allows citizens to be spied on, among other things, through phones. In the future, the police will be allowed to track suspects based on the camera, microphone and location data of this smart device.
– We are still far from 1984-style totalitarianism, Minister of Justice Eric Dupont-Moretti said, referring to the work of author George Orwell.
The law also enables the tracking of non-phones. The French police can monitor and record audio from, for example, laptops and even cars. Suspicion of a crime is sufficient for this, which could lead to a five-year prison sentence.
The one who reported on it Le Monde reportsthat the persons being monitored may be suspected of, for example, links to terrorism or organized crime.
According to Dupont-Moretti, the law would only be used in a few dozen cases a year. Prime minister Emmanuel Macron the party said in Wednesday’s argument that the use of the law would require the approval of a judge, and the total duration of supervision must not exceed six months.
The law excludes representatives of professions dealing with sensitive topics, such as doctors, journalists, lawyers and MPs.
Criticism from the right and the left
The law has been criticized from both the political right and the left. Criticism states that the law is taking the country in a more authoritarian direction.
– The law raises concerns about violations of constitutional freedoms, the digital rights group La Quadrature du Net said in its statement.
La Quadrature du Net stated that the law threatens the right to security, privacy, private correspondence and freedom of movement.
The law in question is part of a larger article that French decision-makers (the National Assembly) are pushing through in parliament. The article also includes several other provisions.
France has also legalized the mass surveillance of citizens with the help of artificial intelligence.