Intelligence Act, after the polemics, members vote – France Info

This Tuesday that the controversial draft intelligence law must be voted in the National Assembly. Monday opponents of the text were again mobilized against a project they consider draconian, to try to rally their concerns the largest number of MPs. Reminder of the main provisions of this bill.

The mobilization is far from over, but the bill on intelligence is voted on Tuesday in the National Assembly, on first reading. With this law, the government’s goal is to define the missions of the intelligence services, the licensing scheme for the use of spy techniques and their control. The imperatives of terrorist screening projects, especially after the Charlie Hebdo bombings , have largely inspired the bill on intelligence, and have in any case accelerated.

Responsibilities: terrorism, foreign policy, economics, …

But the new surveillance in place in this bill will not apply to only the risk of attack. The text also stipulates that such techniques may be used for the collection of information regarding the state security and institutions, major interests of foreign policy, economic interests, major industrialists and scientists in France, the actions of dissolved groups, prevention of crime and delinquency organiqées, etc. Concerns all directions that concern critics of this law

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Authorized techniques: Imsi-catchers, algorithms

The planned techniques are potentially very intrusive. Intelligence services can ask microphones, cameras and spyware at home or on the computers of suspects to intercept telephone conversations or emails. Their entourage, including family, may also be subject to monitoring.

The information collected will be kept 30 days to those from “security interceptions” and 90 days for those obtained by sound, location and image capture. Computer connection data they can be kept five years.

The text will legalize the use of Imsi-Catchers capable of “raking” all communications in a given area, imitating the operation of a Cell relay. The draft also provides that the government may ask the communications operators and Internet service providers to set up an algorithm that can detect “a terrorist threat” by a series of Internet behavior, such as typed keywords and sites visited . In case of threat detected, the anonymity of these metadata can be lifted.

A Control Board?

The bill creates a “National Control Commission technical intelligence “of six parliamentarians (three deputies and three senators), three members of the State Council, three judges of the Court of Cassation and a specialist in electronic issues. The Commission must give advance notice for using these intelligence techniques, but the Prime Minister may also disregard this notice, which makes this control simply “advisory” in the eyes of critics of the project.

“I would never have defended this law had it infringed civil liberties” says Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister of Home Affairs