The Justice Bill continues to be scrutinized from all sides, and its consideration by the Senate continues on Thursday, June 8, 2023.
The famous article 3, at the heart of the most controversial provisions, was endorsed, not without some modifications, by the members of the Senate this Wednesday, June 7.
Legally regulate a practice already in use
You have already read the issues at Clubic, the orientation and programming bill of the Ministry of Justice 2023-2027 has generated several substantive debates on the use of technology for certain judicial investigations. Among the most contested measures, in particular by the Council of the Order of Lawyers, article 3 provides that certain magistrates such as the investigating judge or the judge of freedoms and detention can pronounce a recourse to ” the remote activation of an electronic device without the knowledge or consent of its owner or possessor for the sole purpose of locating it in real time “.
The Senate pronounced this Wednesday, June 7, 2023 in majority favorable to these uses, not without making some amendments, but without this being able to firmly reassure the opponents of these provisions. For the geolocation of an individual in real time without his consent first of all, the Senate adopted an amendment submitted by the group Les Républicains (LR). From now on, geolocation will only be legally possible for offenses punishable by at least 10 years of imprisonment. The initial text planned to authorize the judge to use it for sentences twice as short, ie 5 years.
If this amendment is unfavorable to the wishes of the government, Éric Dupond-Moretti can be satisfied with the adoption of another amendment. This makes it possible to extend the deadlines for a preliminary investigation, under certain conditions. The legislative framework for this “espionage” already widely used informally therefore extends mainly to organized crime, delinquency and terrorism.
On the side of the government, it invokes more security for the investigators thanks to these uses
These three reasons can allow the investigating judge as well as the judge of freedoms and detention to also have recourse to the activation, without the knowledge of an individual, of his microphone or his camera (webcam) within the framework of the course of the investigation, without proceeding to transcriptions. This is what it is for the theory, and therefore for this new legislative framework.
In practice, the use of spyware, often particularly expensive, as well as the installation of cookies without the knowledge of the targeted individuals, is already very real. However, there would now be no need to physically reach the individual’s computer or smartphone, everything would be done remotely.
Despite measures strengthening the magistrate’s control a little more over the judicial procedure, this endorsement by the Senate continues to arouse mixed reactions, for example from the Observatory of Freedoms and Digital Technology (OLN). The latter denounces a security escalation “. In addition, you can follow in real time or in replay the examination of this bill on the official site of the Senate, in source below.
Sources: BFM TV, Senate
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