WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE news journal UPDATE - (en) France, OCL CA #337 - Big Brother 337 (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

At the beginning of May, Médiapart revealed that certain judicial courts
had created wild files of people placed in police custody after being
arrested during major demonstrations against pension reform. One of
these files was declared illegal by the Lille administrative court,
which ordered its destruction on May 19. ---- But at the same time, the
Ministry of Justice was working on the implementation of a new, more
sophisticated tool which is beginning to be implemented, and which is
even more worrying for defenders of freedoms. This is the "computerized
system for monitoring priority penal policies" (SISPoPP). Automated
processing of personal data, which several organizations are already
calling for to be banned. This is how the Magistrates' Union (SM), the
French Lawyers' Union (SAF), the Human Rights League (LDH), the CGT,
Solidaires, La Quadrature du Net and SOS Homophobia have, on December
11, filed a request with the Council of State against the decree
authorizing this file.
Already launched in a few courts, this computer file must be gradually
implemented in each judicial court and within each court of appeal. It
is supposed to allow magistrates from different centers to share data,
and to avoid working in silos (siloed operation where services work in
isolation without interaction between them or sharing of information).
But this file could contain very personal information, depending on the
nature of the offenses. Depending on the case, "data relating to
political opinions", "data relating to trade union membership", "data
concerning the sexual life or sexual orientation of a natural person",
"data relating to religious beliefs", " health data", "data revealing
racial or ethnic origin" and "genetic and biometric data" could be
compiled, according to the annexes to the decree of October 10
authorizing the SISPoPP.
For organizations requesting its cancellation, this giant file does not
present sufficient confidentiality guarantees, not to mention the
impressive list of people who can have access to it.
Note that the National Commission for Information Technology and
Liberties (Cnil) gave the green light to the project because it seemed
to be reassured by the fact that the file would be filled in and
controlled by magistrates! To follow the decision of the Council of State.
Source: mediapart.fr

All travelers are subject to the 70,000 cameras installed by SNCF in
France: 17,000 in stations and 45,000 on board trains.
During the Olympic Games, in addition to the gaze of these digital eyes,
citizens frequenting station halls may be subject to video surveillance
algorithms. The "Olympic Games" law of May 19, 2023 set a framework for
the experimentation of this previously illegal software. Until March
2025, during sporting and cultural events - including the Olympics - the
police, the gendarmerie, but also the SNCF security services can couple
this Artificial Intelligence with cameras to identify the presence of
abandoned objects, a crowd movement or the carrying of a weapon.
Systems that the railway group knows well. Indeed, between 2017 and
2021, with the agreement of the National Commission for Information
Technology and Liberties (Cnil), it has already tested 19 algorithmic
video surveillance software in real conditions on citizens using its
stations. Projects carried out with the largest multinationals in the
sector such as Thales and Atos, the French SMEs Aquilae and XXII or the
foreign companies Anyvision and Briefcam. Of these nineteen tests, ten
obtained a performance level judged below 50% by the SNCF.
Initially, the SNCF even wanted to test an illegal technology, facial
recognition, to identify behavior. But it did not obtain an exemption
from the CNIL, which recalled the intrusive side of this biometric
technology. Eager to carry out its project successfully, the SNCF
therefore turned to the algorithmic video surveillance software of
Anyvision (Israeli firm), because, according to it, it does not examine
biometric data - the face of an individual - but other characteristics
appear non-biometric, such as gait or clothing!
Moreover, according to Amnesty International, "there is a real debate on
whether or not these algorithmic video surveillance technologies are
biometric. A walk or a piece of clothing is an element that allows you
to concretely identify someone. It is therefore biometric data.»

The name of the chosen partner also raises questions. The Anyvision
company is known for its links with the Israeli military world. In 2020,
its president is Amir Kain, former head of the security department at
the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Tamir Pardo, one of his advisers, is a
former head of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency. The same year,
Microsoft even decided to sell its shares in the company, following the
publication of an NBC News investigation which highlighted the company's
role in a surveillance program in the West Bank. But that did not
dissuade the SNCF from carrying out an experiment with the company. In
2017, SNCF tested investigation assistance software from another firm
born in Israel, Briefcam. A few weeks ago, the Caen administrative court
ruled that the use of this software by the community of communes of
Deauville "infringed on serious and manifestly illegal respect for
private life", according to the terms of the decision. The same year,
SNCF also tested an "abnormality" detection solution from French giant
Thales. Software with vague usage, whose algorithms, coupled with video
surveillance cameras, could detect citizens adopting "dangerous
behavior" in stations. Asked about the nature of these behaviors, Thales
refuses to go into detail, out of concern for confidentiality...
"These tools whose role and use are defined by vague terms are
particularly dangerous," reacts Noémie Levain, lawyer within the
association for the defense of digital freedoms La Quadrature du Net.
This means that the SNCF delegates the definition of abnormal behavior
of a citizen at the station to an algorithm, which is further developed
by companies mostly from the military industry, whose definition of
security is necessarily subjective, political and is based on a
repressive and discriminatory vision.»
Since July 2022, the CNIL has been concerned about the potential
consequences of the massive development of algorithmic video
surveillance tools. "An uncontrolled generalization of these devices,
which are by nature intrusive, would lead to a risk of widespread
surveillance and analysis in public spaces likely to modify, in
response, the behavior of people circulating in the street or going to
stores», notes the administrative authority.
However, a few weeks after the publication of the CNIL's questions, on
the night of October 20 to 21, 2022, the SNCF carried out three new
algorithmic video surveillance experiments. One was intended to identify
the wrong entry of an individual or their crossing of a prohibited zone,
the second a person falling to the ground and the last the carrying of a
weapon.
However, to date, we can affirm that this algorithmic video
surveillance, dangerous in itself, has not proven any effectiveness
other than counting a flow of people or spotting an individual in a
prohibited area.
Source: mediapart.fr

In a press release, the Constitutional Council considered that the
allocation of regulated savings (Livret A, LDDS, etc.) to the financing
of the defense industry had no place in a finance law, without however,
exclude the adoption of such a measure in another text. "The censorship
of these various provisions does not prejudge the conformity of their
content with other constitutional requirements. It is open to the
legislator, if he deems it useful, to adopt such measures again" by a
vector other than a finance law, concludes the Constitutional Council.
According to the Caisse des Dépôts, the cumulative outstanding amount of
Livret A and LDDS reached 550.4 billion euros as of August 31 (including
400 billion for Livret A alone). An unprecedented windfall, driven in
particular by the interest rate on these two savings accounts (3%) which
was frozen until January 31, 2025.
Source: Capital with AFP

On March 23, 2019, Geneviève Legay, 73, was seriously injured in Nice
during a Yellow Vest demonstration. Macron, Estrosi and the public
prosecutor rush to exonerate the police officers: Geneviève Legay must
have tripped; or being knocked down by a journalist...
Ms. Legay will file a complaint and on Thursday January 11, 2022, in an
extremely rare occurrence, it was Commissioner Souchi who ordered the
police to charge who was judged while the police officer who knocked him
down was not prosecuted. .

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4087
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca