This Monday, May 12, 2023, the Senate adopted a bill allowing the experimentation of facial recognition. The latter, adopted at first reading, was voted with 226 votes in favor, against 117 votes against. The votes for being those of the majority, on the right, and the votes for, those of the left. This experiment will only be done for certain cases. As our colleagues from BFMTV explain to us, this new bill aims to “create a legal framework for the use of biometric technologies, which opens the way, on an experimental basis, to facial recognition “in particularly serious”. The experiment should take place in the public space, for a period of three years. Nevertheless, following the decision of the Senate, this bill will also have to be discussed in the National Assembly, and it may be that this text will not be judged as it was in the Senate. But what exactly does this text defend?
This text on facial recognition has been adopted for a three-year experiment, in order to secure the next Olympic Games which will take place in Paris in 2024. As L’Express tells us, this text “proposes to prohibit” any categorization and notation” of people “on the basis of their biometric data” and, in general, “any remote recognition” of people on the basis of this data… But it opens up the possibility, for a period of three years, of exploiting this technology in certain cases, such as investigations into “the most serious crimes” or “the fight against the risk of terrorism”.
The experimentation of this bill on facial recognition is not planned for the Paris Olympics. Indeed, the government has decided otherwise. Surveillance will of course be put in place, but it will not be done using facial recognition. For the 2024 Olympics, the Senate prefers algorithmic oversight. That is to say that video surveillance cameras will be installed in the public space.
After being adopted last Monday, this text on facial recognition will have to be discussed in the Senate. With this advance, one wonders what the future of this technology is. Also according to the Express, “the European Parliament is also considering outlawing facial recognition in public spaces in the version drafted in May of its artificial intelligence bill, the AI Act.” Nevertheless, this three-year experiment is not yet certain. And yes, as indicated above, it must be examined in committee and then in session at the National Assembly, which could decide differently than the Senate.
