The CNIL warns of the use of "smart" and thermal cameras against the coronavirus - France 24

Paris (AFP)

The Cnil, French gendarme of personal data, alerted Wednesday on the rapid and uncontrolled use of cameras intended to measure the temperature, to check the wearing of the mask, or to ensure respect for social distancing, as part of the fight against the Covid-19.

"If the Cnil is fully aware of the health situation, it appears to it however that certain envisaged devices do not respect the legal framework applicable to the protection of personal data", she specified in a press release.

"Their uncontrolled development presents the risk of generalizing a feeling of surveillance among citizens, of creating a phenomenon of habituation and trivialization of intrusive technologies, and of generating increased surveillance, likely to undermine the proper functioning of our democratic society ", added the commission, taking up one of the arguments of opponents of tracing technologies.

These devices "most often lead either to process sensitive data without the consent of the parties concerned (in particular the temperature), or to rule out the right to object", also warns the Cnil, which requests "specific regulatory framework".

Thermal cameras, which instantly take the temperature remotely from the infrared radiation emitted by the body, also present "the risk of not locating infected people since some are asymptomatic" and that the system can "be bypassed by taking antipyretic drugs (which reduce body temperature without treating the causes of fever) ".

Thermal cameras have been deployed in France by certain employers (such as Renault at its Flins site in the Yvelines or in Amazon warehouses) and in places of transport, such as at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.

"Health security is the succession of control and vigilance measures that create a controlled and trusting environment," said Secretary of State for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari during a visit to the airport.

Pierre Béder, the president (LR) of the departmental council of Yvelines, had also presented in mid-May his project to equip the public establishments of the department with "thermal gantries".

And since May 6, ten cameras have been installed in the Châtelet-Les Halles metro station in Paris to assess whether passers-by are wearing a mask, as part of an experiment with Datakalab.

© 2020 AFP