In France they will be able to activate the camera and microphone of your smartphone to spy on you
In the context of cases of terrorism, delinquency and organized crime, the police services will be able to remotely activate the microphone and camera of the device, even if not activated, to acquire sounds and images. In both situations, such procedures must be authorized by the public prosecutor or the investigating judge, all contained in a proposed law as reported by the French newspaper Le Parisien
Law enforcement agencies already use surveillance and wiretap techniques, such as placing positioning signs under a car or microphones on suspects, for example. But "the fear of attracting the attention of offenders under investigation for acts of organized crime, of revealing the established strategy or simply because it would expose the lives of the officers in charge of this mission " justifies the implementation of these new tools, according to the Ministry of Justice. They are also " surrounded by important guarantees" , also assured the minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti.
Fortunately, some limitations are placed on registrations. it will not be possible to intercept lawyers, magistrates and parliamentarians. Furthermore, the recording of sounds and images is also prohibited in some places (medical offices, news agencies, journalists' homes, offices of notaries and bailiffs).
This legislation poses two huge privacy issues that have been highlighted by some senators:
- First of all, there is a privacy issue for people not involved in the registration. Let's imagine a crime committed in a public place, such as a subway stop. The interception will not only capture the conversations under investigation, but will extend to everything that is said in the intercepted area. The same will happen in a restaurant, where all people in the area will be intercepted. Who protects the privacy of third parties? Isn't it possible that there are abuses in this matter?
- It will also be possible to use the weaknesses of all electronic devices, which can be hacked. Baby monitors, GPS, cameras, any tool can be used for this purpose. Everything can be hacked, exploiting its weaknesses. Instead of encouraging electronic security, the State is pushed to ensure that dark spaces are left in the devices of users, of all users, even those of innocent people. Weaknesses that could then also be used by third parties.
So yet another law that bends the right to privacy in the name of the greater good of the state. Until when, however, can the public interest violate personal freedom?
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The article In France they will be able to activate the camera and microphone of your smartphone to spy on you comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/in-francia-possono-attivare-la-telecamera-e-il-microfono-del-vostro-smartphone-per-spiarvi/ on Wed, 14 Jun 2023 13:18:01 +0000.