France: New legislation allows police surveillance through smart devices

French lawmakers Wednesday agreed on draft legislation that would allow police to access smart devices belonging to citizens suspected of certain crimes.

Attached to a wider justice reform bill still in Parliament, the amendment says police can track a subject’s phone, laptop, car or other smart device if they are suspected of a crime that carries a punishment of at least five years in prison. Authorities would be permitted to also activate the subject’s microphones and cameras upon a judge's consent for a period of up to six months.

Suspects in “sensitive professions” however — such as MPs, journalists, doctors and lawyers — would not be targeted. 

While the legislation has been met with bipartisan backlash, Justice Minister Éric Dupond-Moretti claims it would only affect "dozens of cases a year,” according to Le Monde, and assured lawmakers that this does not qualify as “Orwellian”.

"We're far away from the totalitarianism of 1984," Dupond-Moretti said, adding that “[p]eople's lives will be saved”.

The amendment was voted through the day after French President Emmanuel Macron also faced allegations of totalitarianism for comments he made Tuesday about banning social media. Macron appeared to use the country’s recent immigrant riots as a pretext to possibly shut down social media in the future.

"We need to think about the use of these networks by the youth . . . and about the bans that need to be put in place. And I say this very clearly, because they change the way young people relate to reality," Macron told 250 mayors whose cities were affected by the riots.

"And [we need to think about] the decisions we make, including administrative decisions, when things get out of hand, so that at some point we can say we're in a position to regulate or cut them off. It's important not to do it in the heat of the moment, and I'm glad we didn't have to, but it's a real debate we need to have when things cool down," he added.

The government tried to backpedal Macron’s comments, saying that a social media ban is “possible” but “not being considered”.

But France would not be the first “democracy” to float a social media ban in response to riots.

Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai last year recommended the government shut down social media if tensions escalate between Jews and Muslims, blaming TikTok in particular for “legitimizing violence". The police chief had also proposed a social media ban during a cabinet meeting a year before, saying there is “a limit” to how democratic Israel should be.

“I am of the opinion that in such situations, blocking the [social] networks is necessary. This is war,” Shabtai said. 

“The social networks are the ones that bring people out to the streets. I'm talking about a broad closure of the networks. Shut them down, let the situation simmer down, and when it does, release them. We are a democratic country, but there is a limit.” 

India’s Punjab government has also been known to cut off internet access when there is civil unrest. In March, Punjabi authorities imposed a cyber lockdown on 27 million residents for five days while they hunted for political dissident Amritpal Singh.