Belle Carter
Going above and beyond the dystopian social science fiction novel by English writer George Orwell titled "Nineteen Eighty-Four" where Big Brother controls every aspect of people's lives, French President Emmanuel Macron's administration has allowed remotely activating snitch phones after the July 5 passage of a provision in the "justice reform bill" at the National Assembly.
The said legislation grants French cops the authority to secretly open a "suspect's" camera, microphone and global positioning system (GPS) on their mobile phones and other devices like laptops.
Article 3 of the bill indicates the remote triggering of cameras or microphones of the gadgets without the knowledge of the persons concerned would be allowed for different purposes. First, real-time geolocation for certain offenses such as those that are punishable by at least five years in prison. On the other hand, the activation of microphones and cameras to capture sound and images would be reserved for cases of terrorism and delinquency and organized crime.
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti assured the public that the powers would only be used for "dozens" of cases per year and that this was far from the surveillance state of Orwell's 1984. Members of parliament also inserted an amendment that only allows "remote spying when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime" and "for a strictly proportional duration" after a judge has approved the surveillance.
Still, the digital rights group La Quadrature du Net raised serious concerns over infringements of fundamental liberties as the law could violate the "right to security, right to a private life and to private correspondence" and "the right to come and go freely." This has a potential for abuse, the group pointed out, calling it part of a "slide into heavy-handed security."
Dissenters also noted that the law does not stipulate what constitutes a serious crime. They fear that Macron's regime could use this to target environmental activists and others who are not actually grave threats. The organization also pointed out that security policies have a habit of expanding to less severe crimes. "Police would be exploiting security holes instead of telling manufacturers how to patch those holes," La Quadrature stressed.
Lawmakers also insisted that sensitive professions, such as journalists, judges, lawyers, doctors and MPs would not be legitimate targets, People's Gazette reported.
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