/View.info/ Your personal mobile phone can at any moment become an informant, giving all your secrets to the police. True, not in Russia, but in France, where the relevant law was adopted. How is this innovation justified, what do human rights activists say about it, and how will it be implemented from a technical point of view?
The French Senate has approved a law that expands the rights of the police. In particular, the scope of searches at night is expanded and permission is given to remotely activate mobile phones without the owner’s consent.
The vague term “activation” means that police will be able to receive data from the device’s microphone or camera if they deem it necessary. In effect, this means that at any moment, your phone’s camera and microphone can turn on without your knowledge and start feeding information about what you’re saying out loud, what they’re saying near you, what you’re doing, where you are, what people are doing near you you and so on.
It should be especially noted that no one even discusses the technical side of the issue – that some difficulties may arise when connecting the police with devices of different brands. Moreover, French laws have already allowed all this to be done before, but only to intelligence officials and for intelligence purposes. Now the police will have the same rights.
Compared to intelligence, so to speak, the police is a much more democratic body, and ordinary people have a much greater chance of encountering it than intelligence. Since in France they are extremely sensitive to any desire to infringe on the rights and interests of citizens (and here we are talking, frankly, about the violation of the secrets of private life, which is also highly valued in the West), one would expect a full-scale controversy in the French media. And here begins the most interesting.
According to the journalists, the article of the law, which affirms the right to actually turn the personal phone into a tool for spying on its owner, appeared almost at the last moment in the discussion. In addition, this happened on the eve of the traditional holidays of lawyers, including those who are used to following and publicly discussing the state’s legislative initiatives. Before that, the authors of the law emphasized another article in the public space – to expand the scope of night searches.
The fact is that historically in France, a person’s home at night was considered inviolable. It takes very good reasons for law enforcement officers to come to a citizen at night (between 9pm and 6am to be exact). Previously, such behavior was considered justified only in cases of terrorism or organized crime.
Now the police, with the sanction of the public prosecutor, can carry out night searches and other investigative actions during the investigation of any crimes against the person in order to “avoid the risk of an attempt on life or when there is an opportunity to immediately destroy evidence of what has just been committed crime or when the detention of the criminal is required.’
From a philistine point of view, everything seems more than logical, but lawyers are known to be people you just let them find fault with some trifle or inaccurate wording. The connoisseurs of the subject dug into the topic of night searches and had already begun to discuss various subtleties, but then like snow fell on their heads the new article of the law – much more interesting.
The article provides two ways to “remote phone activation”. The first is for the purpose of simply establishing a person’s geolocation. Permission for this action is issued by the prosecutor or the investigator in the case of a crime punishable by at least five years in prison.
The second way is the same “remote activation” of the phone’s cameras and microphone when it comes to investigating terrorist acts or the actions of members of organized crime. At the same time, the draft law prohibits the listening and recording of MPs (no doubt), lawyers and officials.
Under other circumstances, the edible local media would not have missed the opportunity to at least pick on the fact that officials or deputies – according to the text of the law – for some reason cannot be terrorists or representatives of organized crime, unlike, say, librarians and plumbers who are much more suspicious. But the authors of the law managed to choose the right moment to present it to the public, and as a result, the draft law did not cause a wide public response. The case was limited to a few explanatory materials that this is a measure against terrorists and dangerous criminals and ordinary citizens have nothing to fear.
French senators accepted the law, but with amendments. For example, the detection of geolocation was allowed only in the most serious crimes, where the punishment starts from 10 years in prison, and “remote activation” was prohibited in many places – in doctors’ offices, notary’s offices, in journalists’ apartments and others.
Justice Minister Eric DuPont-Moretti, who actively promoted the new law, noted that it does not appear to bring anything new, wiretapping and outdoor camera recordings have long been actively used in investigations, and opponents of the law generally behave “as if they discovered The Moon”. However, the moon discoverers have their reasons.
“This law opens up the possibility of surveillance to anyone,” said environmentalist senator Guy Benaroche. Although the left and greens tried to scuttle the project, the law was nevertheless passed – which means that it will soon begin to be implemented in practice. And although the French are a nation of tinkerers, especially when it comes to judicial practice, the application of the law raises many questions.
Because every day almost every citizen crosses paths with dozens, and often hundreds of people. And there is no guarantee that among these tens and hundreds of people there will not be someone who will attract the attention of the police for the above reasons, which means that his circle of acquaintances will be studied especially carefully. Why waste time collecting data when you can just go into anyone’s smartphone and find out what they’re talking about, what they’re doing, where they’re going, who they’re hanging out with.
And our phones also store our data, including bank card details, correspondence in messengers, photos of cats, and sometimes photos that can easily become a reason for blackmail. Any person who has access to someone else’s smartphone gets the opportunity to use any information provided by it – and it is far from certain that this will only be done for legally compliant purposes.
Therefore, many are already convinced that French justice has opened Pandora’s box. Yes, mobile phones have long been an integral part of our lives. However, if your phone becomes a surveillance tool that can be used against you at any time, the very concept of privacy simply disappears. Nothing is secret anymore. And there’s no way to protect yourself from peeping – except to throw the phone away, which is almost impossible in our lives. Or become a French lawyer.
And the best thing – a deputy. But, alas, this option is not possible for everyone.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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