France wants to fight terrorism by spying on everyone

‘French lawmakers have spent the past four days debating a controversial anti-terrorism bill that, if passed, would dramatically expand the government’s surveillance powers. The law’s backers describe it as a necessary measure to thwart terrorist attacks, and it has strong support on both sides of the aisle.

But the bill has drawn sharp criticism from French internet companies over fears that it could harm business, and from privacy advocates who say it would severely curtail civil liberties.

The proposed law, introduced in Parliament on Monday, would allow the government to monitor emails and phone calls of suspected terrorists and their contacts, without seeking authorization from a judge. Telecommunications and internet companies would be forced to automatically filter vast amounts of metadata to flag suspicious patterns, and would have to make that data freely available to intelligence services. Agents would also be able to plant cameras and bugs in the homes of suspected terrorists, as well as keyloggers to track their online behavior.’

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