Privacy is a fundamental right recognized by the European Convention on Human Rights and the French Civil Code. However, this right is increasingly threatened by advances in new technologies, which allow the collection, processing and dissemination of personal data on a large scale. How can French criminal law protect privacy in the face of these new challenges? This is the question answered Yassine Yakouti, criminal lawyer.
Invasion of privacy is an offense provided for by article 226-1 of the Penal Code, which punishes the fact of infringing the intimacy of the private life of others by any means whatsoever. This offense is punishable by one year’s imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros. It can be committed by individuals, but also by professionals or public or private bodies that use new technologies to collect or disseminate information relating to a person’s private life without their consent. Yassine Yakouti explains to us the issues and the limits of French criminal law in the face of these practices.
New technologies as tools of invasion of privacy
New technologies offer many opportunities to invade the privacy of others. These technologies include:
– Artificial intelligence (AI), which can be used to analyze and profile personal data, in particular biometric data, without respecting the principles of transparency, finality and proportionality. AI can also have negative human rights effects, such as discrimination or manipulation. This is why the UN has called for a moratorium on certain AI systems, such as facial recognition, which pose a serious risk of invasion of privacy.
– Social networks, which make it possible to share personal information with a wide audience, but also to disclose it without the consent or knowledge of the persons concerned. Social networks can also be used to harass, defame or insult people by damaging their honor or their consideration.
– Surveillance cameras, which can capture and record images or sounds relating to a person’s private life in a public or private place. These cameras can be installed by individuals, professionals or public authorities, but must comply with certain legal conditions, such as prior information of the persons filmed or authorization from the prefecture.
Yassine Yakouti: Means of protecting privacy in French criminal law
Faced with these potential breaches of privacy, French criminal law has several means of protection. According to Yassine Yakouti, these means are:
– The law modernizing legislative provisions on the protection of personal information, which reinforced the obligations of data controllers and the rights of the persons concerned by personal data. This law also increased criminal penalties for violations of data protection rules.
– The right to be forgotten, which allows a person to request the deletion or delisting of personal data concerning him on the Internet when this data is inaccurate, outdated or infringes his dignity or his privacy. This right is recognized by the Civil Code and by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
– The right to the image, which allows a person to oppose the dissemination of their image without their consent, unless this dissemination is justified by a legitimate interest, such as public information or freedom of expression . This right is recognized by the Civil Code and by case law.
– The right of reply, which allows a person to request the rectification or deletion of information infringing his private life published in a media. This right is recognized by the law of July 29, 1881 on the freedom of the press.
The limits of French criminal law in the face of new technologies: Yassine Yakouti’s explanations
While French criminal law offers guarantees for the protection of privacy, it also has limits in the face of new technologies. Yassine Yakouti emphasizes in particular:
– The difficulty of characterizing the offense of invasion of privacy, which presupposes demonstrating the existence of a material element (the means used to infringe the intimacy of private life), a moral element ( intent to harm or breach of a legal obligation) and a legal element (the infringer’s lack of consent or justification).
– The difficulty of proving the offense of invasion of privacy, which requires collecting evidence that is often concealed or erased by the perpetrators of the invasion. It is also necessary to deal with the technical complexity of new technologies, which requires the intervention of experts or specialized services.
– The difficulty of prosecuting the offense of invasion of privacy, which implies respecting the rules of territorial and international jurisdiction. Indeed, the perpetrators of the infringement may be located in a country other than that where the victim is located or the place of the infringement. It is then necessary to resort to international judicial cooperation, which can be long and uncertain.
2023-07-30 05:51:02
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