Smile, you are listened to. This Wednesday, July 6, 2023, the deputies adopted article 3 of the programming bill for justice. Very controversial, the measure provides for the remote activation of mobile phones and connected objects of people under judicial investigation. Thus, the police would have access to the images and sound captured by the device without the knowledge of its owner.

Very controversial, article 3 was adopted despite the concern of the opposition. Monday, July 3, during the debates in the National Assembly, the deputy LFI Antoine Léaument had described the measure as a “dangerous slope” towards a “totalitarian society”. A reflection shared by PS MP Cécile Untermaier who was worried about crossing “new limits in intrusion”, reports TF1.

Political figures are not the only ones to oppose the new measure. For the association La Quadrature du net, which defends fundamental freedoms in the digital environment, the law passed gives the police access to a real “mass surveillance system”. However, this Wednesday, the deputy MoDem Erwan Balanant, co-rapporteur of the text, declared that remote listening was “not Big Brother”.

During the debates, Erwan Balanant also insisted on the fact that listening to telephones will be reserved for the “most serious” cases, only “a few dozen”, in particular during investigations for terrorism, delinquency and organized crime, reports TF1 . In addition, the deputies have decided to “protect” certain French people from Article 3. Find out in the slideshow below which professions are “protected” from wiretapping.