Paris (AFP)

How to avoid falling into a society between "Black Mirror" and "Big Brother"? The National Commission on Computing and Liberties (CNIL) drew Friday "red lines" not to cross in the use of facial recognition, in particular respect for the privacy of citizens.

"All is not and will not be allowed in terms of facial recognition," warns a report from the CNIL, which highlights the "potential new surveillance that may involve societal choices."

Whether in "1984", George Orwell's novel, or in the British television series "Black Mirror" where a reader implanted in the eye allows access to the internet and his personal data, facial recognition is long since associated with a restriction of freedoms.

While he does not oppose in principle the use of facial recognition, the French police officer of personal data precisely emphasizes several requirements to frame the experiment.

First, "draw boundaries" and this before any use, even experimental, to define the scope of what is "desirable" politically and socially and what is "possible" technologically and financially.

The CNIL reminds, for example, that it recognizes the legitimacy of certain practices such as the control of access to the Nice Carnival, on a sample of volunteers.

On the contrary, she indicates that she opposed her use for access to schools.

At the end of October, the institution had opposed the setting up of a virtual gantry of access control to their establishments by facial recognition in the Nice high school of Eucalyptus and the high school Ampère in Marseille.

The CNIL had then advocated using the already existing, less intrusive means, such as a badge check, considering the facial recognition "disproportionate".

- Supervised experiments -

In its report, Friday, the organization also recommends paying particular attention to the respect of personal data that could be used via facial recognition.

It highlights some cardinal points to respect on the subject: the consent of the targeted persons, the control of the data by the individuals, the transparency, the right of withdrawal of the device and access to the information or the security of the biometric data.

"Experiments can not ethically have the purpose or effect of accustoming people to intrusive surveillance techniques," insists the institution.

Finally, the CNIL advocates a real experimental approach to "test and perfect technical solutions respectful of the legal framework".

"All of these impacts must be carefully weighed because it is the terms of the social contract that certain technological developments can redefine low noise," warns the Constable of personal data.

"With this report, the Cnil popularizes what is facial recognition, it reaffirms the existing principles and goes further by wanting to frame the experiments while recalling that it has the power to impose corrections", summarizes for AFP Sabine Marcellin, a lawyer specializing in digital law.

"In this report, many interesting things are said about the problems of acceptability, complete questioning of anonymity, completely abusive uses", recognizes Sylvain Steer, member of the Quadrature du Net, an association that defends individual freedoms in the digital world.

"But we feel that the Cnil is caught between the goat and the cabbage, she has good intellectual intuitions but lacks some political courage to lead them even further," he told AFP.

Face recognition has made tremendous progress in recent years thanks to advances in artificial intelligence technology. It is especially widely used in China.

In France, the ADP group plans to test this technology next year at Paris-Orly airport, where facial recognition will allow passengers to pass various checks, from check-in to boarding.

The Ministry of the Interior is also experimenting with Alicem, an application that will give smartphone users access to online services requiring strong identification security in exchange for a facial recognition step.

© 2019 AFP