France set to okay spy bill amid protests
Print Edition
Four months after jihadist attacks in Paris killed 17 people, French MPs are set to approve a controversial bill giving spies sweeping new surveillance powers deemed “heavily intrusive” by critics.
The draft law, which is expected to sail through a vote in the lower house National Assembly tomorrow, has sparked angry protests from rights groups, who claim it infringes on privacy.
They will be protesting near parliament today under the banner “24 hours before 1984” in reference to George Orwell’s dystopian novel about life under an all-knowing dictatorship.
The text enjoys support from both main parties and is almost certain to be adopted when lawmakers vote tomorrow, despite opposition from the far-left and greens.
The new law will allow authorities to spy on the digital and mobile communications of anyone linked to a “terrorist” enquiry without prior authorization from a judge, and forces Internet service providers and phone firms to give up data upon request.
Intelligence services will have the right to place cameras and recording devices in private dwellings and install “keylogger” devices that record every key stroke on a targeted computer in real time. The authorities will be able to keep recordings for a month, and metadata for five years.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has fiercely defended the bill, saying that to compare it to the mass surveillance “Patriot Act” introduced in the United States after the 9/11 attacks was a “lie.”
The January 7-9 attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine, a policewoman and a Jewish supermarket sent shockwaves around the world, and prompted several reforms in France, including the controversial bill.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
