2024-10-04 10:20:00
Why hide it, since everyone knows? The government has already announced its intention to generalize the algorithmic video surveillance tested during the Olympic Games, with the firm support of police prefect Laurent Nunez. The problem, beyond the fact that this idea is far from reaching consensus, is that the evaluation report of the experiment is due in December, not before…
Algorithmic video surveillance, regulated by the law adopted in April 2023, uses artificial intelligence to detect behavior deemed “anomalous”, such as crowd movements, abandoned objects, a person running, a car going the wrong way, etc. Despite legislative precautions, such as the strengthening of control by the CNIL and the supervision of the companies responsible for the algorithms, this system raises serious concerns, particularly regarding individual freedoms. Which is why it is in the experimental phase. It remains to be seen whether this work is done honestly or whether “it is nonsense”, as Jérôme Durain, a socialist senator and member of the evaluation committee, suspects.
As reported Public Senatemany parliamentarians share these doubts, which the senator explained by underlining the opacity of the project: “There is a lack of transparency in this story. When we talk about video protection, the Godwin point is the fight against terrorism. But we know that there are interests of French industrialists in the generalization of the system. There is also a strong demand from transport operators such as SNCF and RATP who need it not only for safety, but also for the operation of their networks they must be put on the table, because I remind you that the law only provides for security uses. So, is it a lack of efficiency or a lack of sincerity with respect to the objective of the project that this opacity would like to hide?
LR Senator Nadine Bellurot acknowledges that some features need to be perfected, but insists on the importance of supporting these technologies with ethical rules. For her, it is essential not to reject these developments, but to regulate them in a proportionate and necessary way. An opinion also shared by Marc-Philippe Daubresse, LR, who has already gone further by proposing a law aimed at experimenting with facial recognition. According to him, these technologies are “indispensable” to cure our increasingly violent society. Loïc Hervé, a centrist senator, summarizes the debates thus: “We must not be completely archaic and ban technical developments, but let us remain vigilant and legislate with two principles in mind: proportionality and the need for this instrument.” This is not a victory, since by his own admission “we were sold a supervised and temporary device and we find ourselves announcing its generalization even before the end of the experiment”. More reassuring than ever, Matignon nevertheless promised to wait for the end of the experiment, scheduled for March 2025, before making any decisions.
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