French lawyers are reportedly strongly opposed to a bill that would allow investigators to remotely activate cell phone cameras and microphones to spy on suspects of serious crime.
“It would be a catastrophe,” lawyer Me Vincent Nioré, vice-president of the Paris Bar, would have told the Ouest France media on Tuesday.
The latter would therefore have been strictly opposed to the project in Article 3 of the Justice Orientation Bill, which would allow French police officers to remotely activate the cameras and mobile phone microphones in the event of serious crime without the knowledge of the device owner, punishable by a minimum of five years’ imprisonment.
However, a judge should grant permission beforehand.
“When a lawyer is speaking to his client, the client’s phone can be activated. And in this case, the collection of the collected information is not prohibited. Only their transcription in the minutes is available. What will happen to professional secrecy and source secrecy with the collected data? interjected the lawyer, who also fears the impact of this “attack on public liberties” on doctors or journalists.
The Senate must deal with the matter from June 6, French media said.