[P2P-F] Fwd: [opennetcoalition] A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation?

Thu Nov 19 19:07:50 CET 2015

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: La Quadrature du Net <contact at laquadrature.net>
Date: Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 12:58 AM
Subject: [opennetcoalition] A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation?
To: opennetcoalition at laquadrature.net

Themes: SURVEILLANCE, CENSORSHIP, TERRORISM, PARIS ATTACKS, MANUEL VALLS,
BERNARD CAZENEUVE

La Quadrature du Net – For immediate release

Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/police-state-in-france

 A Police State to Avoid Any Critical Evaluation?

*** Paris, 19 November 2015 — Today the French National Assembly[1] adopted
the bill on the state of emergency[2]. This text was adopted in great
urgency in an unprecedented one-upmanship autoritarian atmosphere. La
Quadrature du Net expresses its concerns about several measures found in
the bill, especially regarding police searches of electronic devices,
Internet censorship and freedom of association. Rather than enganging in
any thorough consideration of the causes that led to the killings and of
the way to solve this complex situation, the entire French political class
betrays itself by responding to this unprecedented attack on our liberties
with a broad restriction of our civil liberties. ***

If the bill specifies and updates a number of items, especially by
reintroducing the possibility of administrative recourse, La Quadrature du
Net is alarmed by the rushed legislative process, making impossible a calm
inspection and debate, removed from current emotions. Changes brought to
the text are not trivial, and deeply affect fundamental liberties. La
Quadrature du Net calls on senators who will vote on the bill tomorrow to
pass amendments which restrict the duration of the state of emergency,
strengthen judicial oversight and strictly limit emergency measures, so
that the state of emergency cannot be used for other purposes than those
for which said state of emergency was initially declared.

Indeed, all the provisions adopted by MPs under pressure from the
government are seriously infringing the foundations of public and
individual liberties:

First of all, the state of emergency is extended for three months, which is
not justified by any other reason than to be exempt of the separation of
powers principle. Since the beginning of the state of emergency last
Saturday, numerous police searches that have been conducted concerned
common law offences, without any relation to the fight against terrorism
and prefigure a police state that the extension over three months will
trivialise.

* Regarding administrative police searches, their extension to electronic
and data processing devices is not limited to the copying of the data found
on the devices but also allows the seizure of all data, documents, etc.
"accessible from the initial system or available for the initial system".
Outside any significant legal oversight, it is thus "open bar" to look for,
on a broad scope, any type of information on any type of electronic device
of any French resident and especially any information available via
usernames, passwords collected during a police search, any content stored
online, etc.
* French MPs also voted in favour of an amendment allowing the Minister of
the Interior to block any website "the promoting terrorism or inciting
terrorist acts", hence extending the measures included in the 2014
antiterrorist law which already gave that power to the police.
* Regarding house arrest, it is important to highlight that the new wording
significantly lightens the necessary conditions under which this measure,
highly infringing individual liberties, can be used. In its 1955 version,
the text required that "the activity turns out to endanger security and
public order". The new version is intended to apply to individuals that
present "serious reasons to think that their behaviour represents a threat
for security and public order", thus adopting a broader and more imprecise
scope. No definition of "serious reasons" is provided. The impact study
explains that the individuals targeted are those who have "drawn the
attention of the police and the intelligence services by their behaviour or
company they keep, statements or projects". This measure leaves wide open
the possibility of very broad interpretations, made worse by the fact that
measures taken during the state of emergency are not overseen by a judicial
judge.
* Likewise, the text specifies that house arrests shall be conducted in
locations chosen by the Minister of the Interior, which paves the way for
the worse house arrest requests made by politicians (some have mentioned
"internment camps"), with the possibility of resorting to electronic
bracelets.
* Regarding the dissolution of formal groups and associations, the
procedure allows for very broad interpretation and as such for serious
violation of the freedom of association. It describes associations which
"take part in committing acts that seriously endanger the public order or
whose activities facilitate or encourage committing such acts": this could
include, for instance, many associations promoting the use of encryption
technologies, which are indeed used by criminals but also mainly by many
innocent citizens as well. This fear is reinforced by the fact that
extraordinary powers given to the administrative power by the state of
emergency are already used in cases unrelated to terrorism.

"The debate and the vote on the state of emergency in the French lower
house shows how MPs and the governement are in total denial of the current
situation. The vote was marked by a relentlessness to undermine the rule of
law and the balance of powers and demonstrates how far France is far from
really engaging in the work necessary to solve the terrorist risk, in all
its complexity. We call on citizens to explicitely mark their disaproval to
their representatives, as it is in the name of their fears that the
panicking MPs are sacrifying today our liberties. They believe in creating
a police state - for several months - will create an illusion of security
by putting in place, for several months, a police state[3]. In the face of
this super fast-tracked adoption[4],we are left with little more to do than
document the disaster, hoping for an awakening." declared Adrienne Charmet,
campaign coordinator for La Quadrature du Net.

* References *

1. French lower legislative chamber.
2. The text was adopted with 551 votes in favour and 6 votes against.
3. The principal characteristic of the state of emergency is to put in the
hands of the police the prerogatives usually in the hands of the judiciary
power.
4. The text was presented in the Council of Ministers on Wednesday morning
and in the Law Committee of the lower chamber the same day. It was adopted
in the lower chamber on Thursday morning. It will be presented in the Law
Committee of the upper chamber Thursday afternoon and in the upper chamber
on Friday morning.

** About La Quadrature du Net **

La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that defends the rights and
freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for
the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding
principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge.

In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better
understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and
pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage
citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the
digital age.

La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international
NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society
Institute and Privacy International.

List of supporting organisations:
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net

** Press contact and press room **

contact at laquadrature.net, +33 (0)972 294 426

https://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room

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