After the senators, the deputies in turn gave the green light on Thursday to allow certain features of smartphones and connected devices to be activated remotely, making them snitches.
Just a month ago, the Senate adopted, at first reading, article 3 of the justice orientation and programming bill so important in the eyes of the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti. Very controversial, the text must make it possible to activate smartphones remotely, to listen to and film the people implicated in serious tort or criminal cases. And he continues on his merry way. On Wednesday, a majority of the National Assembly approved the article, with 80 votes in favor and 24 against.
Only individuals suspected of serious offenses and crimes are targeted
Two schools clash in the face of this text: the one defended by the elected representatives of Nupes and which warns about respect for private life, cries out for espionage and fears excesses; against the one who considers that technology is a real tool for tracking down the most dangerous individuals, praised by LR and RN representatives.
More specifically, this article makes it possible to remotely activate mobile phones, but also computers and other connected devices to hijack microphone and camera functionalities, in order to spy on people targeted by cases of a certain gravity.
Geolocation for some, monitoring of microphones and cameras for others
Let’s go into a bit more detail. Two cases of application have been defined via this article 3. The first concerns persons targeted by an offense or a crime punishable by a minimum of 5 years’ imprisonment. Here, the authorities will be able to activate geolocation to allow real-time tracking. The tracing of the position is not new, since it is already possible to locate a telephone for misdemeanors and crimes punishable by at least 3 years of imprisonment.
The activation of the cameras and microphones of the devices will be possible for cases of terrorism, delinquency and organized crime, for a period of 15 days, moreover renewable once by the judge of freedoms and detention (JLD). It will also be renewable (twice) by an examining magistrate, who may extend the authorization up to six months, the maximum duration provided for by the text.
Judged ” disproportionate and seen as ” an invasion of privacy ” of the French or even a ” derivative “, this provision makes jump to the left. On the presidential side, we defend ourselves by evoking a measure that will save lives, the Minister of Justice recalling that the recording of sound and video would only be reserved for the most serious cases, and that it is already possible by the intelligence services, without the authorization of the judge, contrary to what is provided for in Article 3.
Source : The world
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