France destroys the last vestiges of electronic privacy

 

Last week I published an article titled "Big Brother's unwelcome surveillance tools".  I emphasized that we have no real electronic privacy.  Now France has taken the next step and authorized its law enforcement and prosecution authorities to snoop on any cellphone user in the country.

Amidst ongoing protests in France, the country has just passed a new bill that will allow police to remotely access suspects’ cameras, microphones, and GPS on cell phones and other devices.

As reported by Le Monde, the bill has been criticized by the French people as a “snoopers” charter that allows police unfettered access to the location of its citizens. Moreover, police can activate cameras and microphones to take video and audio recordings of suspects. The bill will reportedly only apply to suspects in crimes that are punishable by a minimum of five years in jail and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti claimed that the new provision would only affect a few dozen cases per year. During a debate over the bill yesterday, French politicians added an amendment that orders judge approval for any surveillance conducted under the scope of the bill and limits the duration of surveillance to six months, according to Le Monde.

“For organized crime, the police can have access to the sound and image of a device. This concerns any connected device: telephone, speaker microphone, computer camera, computer system of a car... all without the knowledge of the persons concerned,” French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net said in a statement on Twitter last month, machine translated by Gizmodo. “In view of the growing place of digital tools in our lives, accepting the very principle that they are transformed into police auxiliaries without our being aware of it poses a serious problem in our societies.”

There's more at the link.

So, the French government gets to define who's a "suspect".  Given the massive demonstrations across the country against President Macron's pension reforms, that makes any demonstrator or protester potentially a part of the electronic dragnet.  Even carrying a sign or shouting a slogan - perhaps even merely attending a protest - may be enough to make one a "suspect".  There's no First Amendment in France;  no guaranteed civil right to "free" speech.  (Of course, there's not very much left of that right in this country, either, what with the Biden administration openly co-opting Big Tech and social media to crack down on dissenting views - or, at least, their free expression - and encouraging news media to spout propaganda rather than disseminate actual news.)

Big Brother is gorging himself on what remains of the privacy of private citizens, in France, in the USA, and elsewhere too.  Ireland is the most recent European nation to join in the witch-hunt against free speech, and it won't be the last.  Basically, if you intend to speak freely, your privacy will be at best disregarded;  at worst, stripped from you entirely.  Human rights?  What human rights?

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  Grateful thanks to commenter Steve Sky (see below) for bringing a Massachusetts case to our attention.  It seems the state government contracted with Google to install a tracking app on the smartphones of over a million residents as part of its COVID-19 control efforts.  No permission was asked or obtained from any of those on whom this app was foisted.  There's a court case ongoing, and I hope the constitutional rights of individuals are resoundingly affirmed and upheld.