The French military planning law increases state services powers for the collection of data on Internet
The French senate adopted definitively the military planning bill which deeply changes the way state services may access internet users’s data without a court order.
Article 13 of the law extends to new entities the possibility to request internet users’s data. In addition to the Minister of the interior security and the Minister of defence, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of budget may now access to internet users’s data held by telecom operators, Internet Service Providers (ISP) and Internet hosts.
Article 13 of the law also extends the grounds on which the concerned ministers are allowed to request data. The collection can now be realized for the purpose of:
- seeking information relating to national security,
- safeguarding the essential elements of the scientific and economic potential of France,
- the prevention of terrorism, crime and organized crime and the recovery or maintenance of dissolved groups.
Until now, such operations could only take place for anti-terrorism purpose.
The same provision allows, under the same conditions, access to connection data in real time including geolocation data (through mobile terminals such as smartphones, etc.).
Article 13 has been heavily criticized for the past few weeks by representatives of both internet users and the telecom/IT industry.
For example, the organization “Quadrature du net” voiced its opposition to the text stating that this it constitutes a serious violation of fundamental rights and liberties.
The ASIC, an association representing the most important Internet actors in France (Dailymotion, Deezer, Google, Facebook, etc.), publicly condemned this text which “could endanger the innovative but fragile digital economy ecosystem in France” by creating “a confidence deficit towards national data hosting solutions”.
In addition, in a press release dated 26 November 2013, the French data protection authority (CNIL) officially complained for not having been consulted on article 13 of the military planning bill.
In consideration of the controversy surrounding the adoption of this text, the latter could be referred to the French constitutional court (Conseil constitutionnel) in order it assesses the conformity of article 13 of the military planning law with the constitution.
The military planning law is available here.
Tags:
military planning law, Senate, internet, data, internet users’s data, data collection, state services - Minister of the interior security - Minister of defence - Minister of Economy - Minister of budget, telecom operators, Internet service providers, ISP, Internet hosts, national security - scientific and economic potential of France, crime, organized crime, Quadrature du net, ASIC, CNIL
