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French Version of 'Patriot Act' Becomes Law
Taco Cowboy writes: Thanks to the Charlie Hebdo massacre and other instances of terrorism, the French legislature has voted 438 to 86 in favor of the "Intelligence Service Bill," essentially a French version of the Patriot Act. It awards the French intelligence services sweeping powers to tap and intercept any kind of digital correspondence, including phone conversations, emails, and social media.
The bill decrees that hosting providers and Internet service providers in France must be equipped with a "black box" that can retain all digital communications from customers. "The new law would create a 13-member National Commission to Control Intelligence Techniques, which would be made up of six magistrates from the Council of State and the Court of Appeals, three representatives of the National Assembly, three senators from the upper house of Parliament and a technical expert. ... The only judicial oversight is a provision that allows the commission to lodge a complaint with the Council of State, but lawyers are doubtful that it could be convened on a routine basis." We previously discussed news that ISPs may leave France in protest if the bill was passed. Now we'll know shortly if those ISPs will live up to their word.
The bill decrees that hosting providers and Internet service providers in France must be equipped with a "black box" that can retain all digital communications from customers. "The new law would create a 13-member National Commission to Control Intelligence Techniques, which would be made up of six magistrates from the Council of State and the Court of Appeals, three representatives of the National Assembly, three senators from the upper house of Parliament and a technical expert. ... The only judicial oversight is a provision that allows the commission to lodge a complaint with the Council of State, but lawyers are doubtful that it could be convened on a routine basis." We previously discussed news that ISPs may leave France in protest if the bill was passed. Now we'll know shortly if those ISPs will live up to their word.
Now it seems France will learn the hard way as well that giving up freedom never buys you safety.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Only the National Assembly has voted; the bill must also pass the Senate. That said, given the multipartite consensus on it, there's not much chance that the Senate won't pass it.
You never know, though: given that the Senate is often deemed useless (in France, the Assembly has priority), sometimes it attempts to actually work on the bills, debate in more depth.
Also, the bill has been submitted to the Constitutional Council (which is unusual, before it's voted on). They too can veto it. We'll see.
So.. what you are saying is that having near constant surveillance on anyone the US government wants, internally and externally, has not worked out well for them (them of course being the state..)?
Or are you suggesting that the French government would not love to copy this political power grab to be able to monitor who/what/when they like for pretty much any reason?
I would suggest that these capabilities have worked out VERY well for the powers that be - there have been a few hiccups along the way, when the damn unwashed masses heard about it, and they actually had to get around to passing legislation to make it all look a touch more legitimate, however that is a small price to pay for absolute political power!
After all, what world leader would not want to be able to retroactively dig up huge masses of 'private' information on threats (to their political power of course..) when and if they need them! It revolutionises the process of both local and international negotiations! Think how easy it becomes to squash people who dont tow the line!
After all, they need all this power, as they obviously have only our best interests at heart.
Think of the children!
Thinking about all those people that fought in the world wars for our freedom. I wonder if they would have fought if they knew their children would piss every freedom they fought for away in a generation.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
First they create the problem, then they generate the reaction, they they offer the ready made 'solution'
Perfect use of Hegelian Principle...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
... everyone suffers
That's the price all of us have to pay when we, the majority, cannot and/or dare not to, control the action of the few
No matter if it's USA or France of Belgium or the Netherlands or Germany, as long as our society can not (and/or dare not to) confront those Islamists and get them to ditch their barbaric behavior, all of us will suffer
You guys saw what happened in Garland Texas just days before
You guys saw the length the government of Germany has to go --- including canceling at least two public events --- just to prevent the events becoming a bloodbath by the hands of the Islamists
And that's not all ... the Madrid train station bombing, the Boston Marathon bombing, the London Tube bombing, what happened to the World Trade Center of New York City, and so on ...
As long as we, the majority refuse to, or are too afraid of confronting them Islamists straight on, TPTB will formulate stuffs like the Patriot Act, NSA, and whatnots, in the name of 'tackling Islamic Terrorism', and at the end of the day, it is US, the non-Islamists, lost the most
If them Islamists want to live in the West, they better behave like the Western people do
I am not born in the States, I am from China. But as long as I am staying in the United States of America, I respect the society, the people, and the culture of America --- even though I may not see eye-to-eye with everything that they do
If the Islamists insist on behaving like animals they can go back to where they came from --- they get to do whatever they like in the wide sand fields of Saudi Arabia, I don't care
I am sick and tired of them Islamists --- they create trouble EVERYWHERE
Not only in the United States, Europe, they also make troubles in Australia, in Russia, in Thailand, in Kenya, in China, in Nigeria, and so on, and so forth
The world at large has been very tolerant with them, but there is a limit to everything
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Encryption without license and key escrow is already illegal in France, they did not enforce it against private citizens though.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
One of times when Bush said something so stupid that it was actually true.
No-one hates freedom, obviously, but a lot of people hate Americans for their attitude that freedoms are theirs and no-one else's.
That tired old appeal to "what they fought for"
In my context I was thinking of my grandfather who fought in both world wars against the very thing that is happening in our western societies today.
You know, perhaps you and people like you who spout this drivel should go to a quiet room and consider the difference between mass genocide of jews, gypsies, gays and eastern europeans by the nazis (yes, hello Godwin) plus the indescriminate bombing of civilian populations in Britain and elsewhere,
Nazism is exactly what I was considering when I posted. How these establishment of police states leads to state sponsored terrorism, which is scarier than fundamentalism in a different way.
and the recording of your phone conversations and emails on a little black box. Which if you work in any large company is already done anyway and has been for decades.
Oh, I see. Your one of these people that cheer on the erosion of peoples right to privacy because companies do illegal things. This is best compared to anal fist fucking, you may be a willing participant, but most people would not.
GTFU!
All things considered, that's an oxymoronic statement.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Just for information.)
Reactionary was the word we used to describe this sort of behavior.
A man doesn't need anything but his hands, feet, eyes, and a gun to kill blasphemers. Surveillance is irrelevant. They're making the same damned mistake we did, confusing power and the all-seeing eye with safety. They'll use this to round up Muslims, same as the US does. Innocence or guilt is irrelevant. They'll go into holes for life or get blown up real good.
The questions remains: who will protect us from the people spying on us? The people behind the spy eyes will change over time. The may even become the people who want to shoot you for blasphemy. Ever think of that? In Saudi Arabia, the all-seeing eye will be on the lookout for women driving cars. In North Korea, they'll be looking out for anyone they damned well want to kill. In South America, for anyone challenging the wealthy's control. In America, straight up they're looking for anyone who dares challenge corporate power - no more draconian surveillance was used here than when Occupy managed to gain some attention. The US managed an unprecedented surveillance and pre-crime arrest sweep during Occupy, showing what secret surveillance was really good for: control of the status quo,.
Oh well, freedom was nice while it lasted.