A step has just been taken. The National Assembly approved, Thursday, March 23, the use of so-called "smart" video surveillance, based on algorithms. An unprecedented device that the executive wants to experiment before and during the 2024 Olympics, despite fears of security abuses expressed by the left.

Adopted with 59 votes in favour (presidential majority - LR - RN) against 14 against (Nupes), Article 7 of the draft law on the Olympic Games provides for the possibility of experimenting, as soon as the law is promulgated, the analysis by means of algorithms of images from cameras and drones during major events, in order to alert the authorities to potentially risky facts and gestures.

"Voted as is, this bill would mark a first dangerous step for human rights, including the right to privacy," Amnesty International also criticised the NGO Amnesty International in January, denouncing a project that "involves serious dangers to our rights". The National Bar Council has also ruled against this measure.

"Not hoodies" in algorithms

The Olympic Games are in the line of sight but the experiment, which must stop at the end of 2024, could start as soon as the law is promulgated, and concern for example the next Rugby World Cup in the autumn.

The list of "events" to be detected must be fixed by decree, after the opinion of the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL). During the debates, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin cited as examples "a fire start, population bottlenecks, an abandoned parcel or bag". But "not the hoodies," he said, pressed for questions from the left.

>> Read: Security of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: final stretch before an extraordinary opening ceremony

The deputies of the Nupes are concerned about the possible misuse of this technology, fearing that the Games will only serve as a springboard to generalize this type of surveillance to the population.

The executive insists on safeguards, the absence of facial recognition, and the need to secure the Games and the millions of spectators expected. "Predetermined events concern not people, but situations," insisted Gérald Darmanin, without convincing them.

Data processing outsourced to the private sector?

During the examination of the bill in the Assembly, much of the debate revolved around the "biometric" nature or not of the data, for example in the case where it is necessary to isolate and track a person. The majority and the government assure that they do not have this character. "It will necessarily be biometric data," insisted Sandra Regol (ecologist).

Opposition MPs have tried to further limit the experiment, to confine it to luggage abandonment, or to impose the fact that the state is solely responsible for the analysis of data, without resorting to the private sector, but without success.

>> Read: Olympics-2024: Is Paris ready for the transport challenge?

An amendment by RN Aurélien Lopez-Liguori, chair of the study group on digital security and sovereignty, was adopted. It intends to prioritize the use of European companies. But the fact that members of the majority, members of the study group, co-signed or subamended an RN amendment, outraged the left.

With AFP

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