France allows police to eavesdrop on citizens
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Digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net, stated that the French government's move raises serious concerns over the violation of fundamental civil liberties and decried it as part of a "slide into heavy-handed security".
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French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech during a campaign rally in Strasbourg, eastern France, April 12, 2022. (AP)
The French government has allowed police forces to spy on citizens by remotely activating the camera, microphone, and GPS of their phones and other devices such as laptops, cars, and other connected objects, in an attack against civil liberties.
The devices would be activated to record sound and images of people allegedly suspected of terror offenses, delinquency, and organized crime.
The measure has been condemned by rights activists as "an authoritarian snooper's charter". The digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net, stated that it raises serious concerns over the violation of fundamental civil liberties and decried it as part of a "slide into heavy-handed security".
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The provision was approved in early June.
Rainbow Murray, a Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London said, "And it had to be borne in mind that the police have faced some significant challenges, especially in the previous decade where [sic] France was subjected to a series of terrorist attacks and there was a fear that the police didn't have strong enough powers to contain them, so, some of those powers were reinforced."
One particular section of the bill allows law enforcement to track the device's location if the owner is considered a suspect, which comes amid protests across France over the killing of a 17-year-old by police last month.
The cold-blooded murder of Nahel Merzouk by French police officers in Nanterre has exposed deep divisions within French societies. The event sparked ablaze a fire that holds within it decades' worth of resentment felt by minorities in France toward authorities.
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