MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

France approves remote activation of cell phones cameras and microphones

“People's lives will be saved,” Dupond-Moretti argued

The French Senate Friday moved forward with a controversial measure allowing investigators to activate remotely the camera and microphone of cell phones of people under investigation without the knowledge of the persons concerned, it was reported in Paris.

Despite strong opposition from the left, Article 3 of the bill by French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, seeks to establish real-time geolocation for certain crimes and capture sound and images, which would be reserved for cases of terrorism and organized crime. Dupond-Moretti insists the measure would affect only “dozens of cases a year.”

“We're far away from the totalitarianism of '1984',” George Orwell's novel about a society under total surveillance, Dupond-Moretti said. “People's lives will be saved” by the law, he added.

The Observatory for Liberties and the Digital (OLN) denounced that this is an “excess of security”, which turns any connected object into a potential “spy.” Lawmakers from left-wing parties tried unsuccessfully to eliminate all or part of the provisions considered “disproportionate”. According to environmentalist Guy Benarroche, this “opens the door to generalized surveillance.”

“These techniques are already in use,” assured Dupond-Moretti, but they require the installation of beacons or microphones and cameras, which entails risks for investigators. The provision is “surrounded by important safeguards,” he added. In particular, its application must be approved by a judge and may not exceed six months.

The Senate adopted an amendment pushed by Bruno Retailleau of the party The Republicans (LR), which limits the possibility of using geolocation to crimes punishable by at least 10 years in prison, as opposed to 5 years in the initial wording.

Article 3 of the bill also provides, among other measures, for the extension of night searches for the most serious crimes. In addition, the Senate adopted a government amendment allowing the extension, under certain conditions, of the time limits for preliminary investigations.

During a parliamentary debate late on Wednesday, MPs in President Emmanuel Macron's camp inserted an amendment limiting the use of remote spying to “when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime” and “for a strictly proportional duration.”