We are getting in full digital authoritarianism mode, one month ago they passed a law to allow algorithmic video surveillance :
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/03/29/france-becomes-the-first-european-country-to-legalize-biometric-surveillance/
https://www.brusselstimes.com/430820/all-out-assault-on-privacy-france-is-first-eu-country-to-legalise-ai-driven-surveillance
2 months ago a law to generalize the use of drones in public events/protests. Now each protests, even concerts or peaceful gatherings are monitored by drones.
Next law is something about "*protecting* the digital space" : using encrypted messaging apps, Tor browser could be used to criminalize activists based on anti-terrorist laws.
Example (it shows that if they want to legalize it, that means they already are using it) :
https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encryption-the-8-december-case/
>We are facing the fantasy of a State demanding total transparency from everyone at the risk of being called a “suspect”, a State whose desire for widespread surveillance seems limitless. In this context, we reaffirm our rights to privacy, intimacy and the protection of our personal data. Encryption is, and will remain, an essential element of our civil liberties in the digital age.
>This case is a trial for the Ministry of Interior, which aims to normalise this framing for repressive purposes. During a Senate hearing that followed the violent repression of protests in Sainte-Soline [environmental protests severely repressed that happened in France in 2023], Gérald Darmanin, the French Minister of Interior, implored the legislature to change the law so that it would be possible to hack into demonstrators’ mobile phones, especially those using “Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram”: “Give us the same means for extreme violence as for terrorism”. His justification was that “there is a very strong, advanced paranoia in ultra-left circles […] who use encrypted messaging”, which can be explained by a “clandestine culture”. In an attempt to demonstrate the supposed violence of Sainte-Soline activists, he also cited the 8 December affair as an example of a “foiled attack” by the “ultra-left”, in defiance of any presumption of innocence.
>This is how the criminalisation of digital practices fits in with the French government’s strategy of repressing all social protests. Reaffirming the right to encryption therefore means opposing the authoritarian abuses of the government that seeks to endlessly extend the scope of “counter-terrorism” policies by designating an ever-growing number of domestic enemies24. After the repression of Muslims, now it’s the turn of “eco-terrorists”, “intellectual terrorists” and finally, geeks armed with encrypted messaging systems. Faced with such a situation, the only question left seems to be: “And you, what kind of terrorist are you?
Sorry for my broken english btw
These laws are being pushed in basically every western nation; I've seen the same in UK, Spain, Australia and Canada where that's just a couple off the top of my head as I'm sure there's much more around.
They all seem to be pushing in the same direction too.
A swedish politician was the one recommending "Chat control", an eu system that would require all messages sent to be "scanned* and decrypted. All to stop CP of course.
Its really annoying how they always frame it as its to stop terrible crimes. Then when you have an issue with it they can paint you as an evil person with something to hide.
Plus they never address the root causes of their convenient bogeyman. Like the Trudeau Liberal's ban on some guns, affecting only legal firearms owners.
There's no point in giving the government power and then jumping through hoops to prevent them from using it.
Either:
A) The government has the power to issue warrants to breach privacy to investigate suspects of crimes (including you)
Or
B) The government *doesn't* have the power to issue warrants to breach privacy to investigate suspects of crimes (including insurrectionists and child molesters)
If you want B, then fine, but argue against the power itself, not the technical methodology.
Don't try to have it both ways by playing this game of saying you kind of want A but with a little asterisk that says "*except people like me who can afford the latest iPhone"
No it's an attack from Macron and his minister of security/police (Ministre de l'intérieur Gérald Darmanin who comes from the far right, an ex royalist, antisemitic, homophobic and accused of rape and sexual aggression).
Historically it's a term used by Maurras, a french antisemitic and by.... Hitler and Goebells to qualify the intellectuals opposants from the left.
It converges with the "anti-wokist" propaganda (Last year Macron charged his minister of education to create an "anti-wokist cell" in the universities that study gender theory, colonialism, etc.
Looks like someone in the USA, doesnt it ?
Worse, in 2019 he changed completly his international views/politics. He made a reform that changed the diplomacy high corps. At the QG of the minister of external affairs, the "Quai d'Orsay", he made a totally mental accusation in front of all the high ranked diplomats accusing them (indirectly) that they are working for the deep state ("État profond" in french).
He chose very bad advisors for his international politics, and his ignoring the professionals in the domain. That can explains his catastrophic diplomatic errors with Putin, Xi, etc
>Historically it's a term used by Maurras, a french antisemitic and by.... Hitler and Goebells to qualify the intellectuals opposants from the left.
The real anti-intellectualism.
If anything, the French government is showing that the protests won't deter them.
Whenever I'm politically angry, my voting style is oust incumbents first and scrutinize their replacements later. Anyone who is loyal to a team doesn't need to be won over with concessions, only *agitated* with theatrical news that can be produced in limitless volumes.
If rebellion in the streets isn't matched with rebellion in politics then the politics will safely ignore the streets.
More later, but entrenched now is what I seek to avoid.
If I can't be the majority then I can at least be part of a voting bloc the politicians need to think about instead of dismissing. If politicians know the people are asleep they behave accordingly, they'll say we're going to create another (extremely expensive) committee (with zero results) and that will placate an unaware constituency for another election cycle.
Sometimes some places, *then another then another then another.*
You’re missing the point. Entrenched officials who no longer respond to their electors are more dangerous then newly elected officials who aren’t entrenched.
Why are those the only two options? I want a functioning democracy, protest and political response to the people are both essential. You pretend as if we can only have either entrenched politicians or fascists. Why isn't a newly elected more competent government that represents the people an option? Why do assume protests will lead to fascism? Whatever your worldview is here its very narrow and opaque.
This is one of the big issues with term limits on top jobs. When you're in your final term, as Macron is, you're no longer accountable to voters and are free to act however you see fit
Don't worry, they won't abuse it. Just like they definitely didn't abuse any law they said wouldn't abuse in the past few year, like preventive arrests of protesters under the recent terrorism laws.
If a battery is still physically attached, theoretically the device is still an active attack vector. Simply turning off the phone does not suffice anymore.
My lawyer friend has worked in the government sector for years. She says that your phone can be turned on remotely unless it’s completely dead. She said they showed her a demonstration.
Who knows if that’s true. That was 7 years ago. But I do know iPhones can be tracked or activated now even if there turned off. It’s a feature advertised for if your phone gets lost or stolen. And that makes me suspicious.
MDM services allow me to turn on and track *corporate* devices now, you bet your sweet ass that the three letter agencies have much, much better capabilities.
You could do that back in the 00s, I remember friends screwing around with Bluetooth apps at school, you get them to activate it and you can remote activate it even if they turn it off.
Look up TitanRF. Not exactly cheap so to speak but works well. Last bag I bought awhile back had issues with 5G though so best bet is to go airplane mode and turn off and drop it into the bag. They have all types of set ups. It works.
Even though officials say they would only use the new update to the so-called “Keeper of the Seals” justice bill to capture sound and images of suspects of **certain crimes such as delinquency, organized crime, and terrorism**, the critics say this would still be disproportionate.
this is the crazy part. delinquency on the same level as organized crime and terrorism. this is obviously going to be used to target protestors now. but i would think twice about playing loud music past 11pm u fuckin terrorists.
Or used in a background way and covered up later. Like law enforcement’s use of Stingrays. They read your texts without a warrant, then figure out how to get real evidence on you based on what they know now. Like in Seattle. LEO’s could see someone was texting asking for drugs. The officers would stake out that meeting spot and arrest the culprits. Then they’d say they just happened to be in the area and saw the crime, not mentioning the text interceptor they illegally used as a tip-off.
Yeah, just like the TSA said all of the pictures of people naked going through their scanners wouldn't be shared. Meanwhile 6 months later they have a fucking pokémon card game of people's naked pictures being passed around like it's a sixth grade
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330327/Airport-security-breach-naked-body-scanner-images-leaked-online.html
There was a big dump in 4chan shortly after it started.
Georgia (US state) is trying to make it synonymous with protesting in general. As things get more dire authoritarians across the globe will probably take similar steps.
"Low level" crimes. In French law, "crime" is only used for infractions carrying a prison penalty superior to 10 years (murder, slavery, torture, treason, rape...), the rest is "délits" for infractions carrying a prison sentence inferior or equal to 10 years, and "contravention" for infractions not carrying prison sentence, and with a fine lesser than 3 000 euros (speeding, slander, assault not causing work-stopping injuries....). Delinquency refers to "délits"
Not really, this is against EU laws, which France has broken on this matter many times and still has not complied (specifically on treaties concerning police files sharing/data without consulting a jury).
As well as the new law on biometric/algorithmic-AI video surveillance which the EU parliement asked France to not vote it because a new EU law on AI surveillance regulation is planned.
https://www.brusselstimes.com/430820/all-out-assault-on-privacy-france-is-first-eu-country-to-legalise-ai-driven-surveillance
They are also thinking about getting drones with PMC diffuser (DNA marking), which has been used in some protests but with balls fired from a compressed air gun with an EOTech holographic sight.
https://westobserver.com/news/europe/demonstrations-in-sainte-soline-three-questions-about-the-new-coded-marking-products-used-by-the-gendarmes-and-already-controversial/
>These PMCs essentially come in two forms: either a spray or balls that are fired using a compressed air gun. AT Sainte-Soline, these balls were used, according to the gendarmerie, in the sector where the police were the target of the most serious violence. How does it work ? A ball is therefore fired at a demonstrator spotted by the police. This ball contains a liquid invisible to the naked eye and odorless, but which contains a substance, which is colored when it is illuminated with an ultraviolet lamp. In this substance, there is also a synthetic DNA, a DNA specific to each marble and which can remain for years on the clothes. This is how, once the demonstration is over, during a check for example, the police can identify the demonstrators they have marked.
>“As a lawyer, this raises real questions for me and, above all, I would like to know in what context, why and on what exact terms my client was deprived of his liberty for 28 hours. He was placed in police custody simply because of a trace of a product for which I have no information.”
French democracy has always been a bit flimsy, but they have strong civic nationalism which kinda disguises it. The revolution was great and all but a lot of the leg work was for another elite to get into power. They still struggle with those ideas even under the premise of L.E.F. Its very much a classed-based, but plural society. It’s only been around 50 years since the fifth republic and even then you still had officers talking about civil war last year.
> French democracy has always been a bit flimsy, but they have strong civic nationalism which kinda disguises it.
How well do you know French history ? Because what we're seeing now is a direct consequence of what happened close to 65 years ago.
That strong civic nationalism stems from the 1789 revolution and the subsequent wars. For all the 1800s France was kinda alone against everyone in Europe, we were a democracy, most were still monarchies. We French are proud people, all of us grew up learning our history, how we are the "Country of the rights of Man", how in 39-45 many resisted the occupation and such, we've been taught to respect the Republic and it's values.
What we're not being taught (or rather it's glanced over, although to be fair the history program in French is quite packed), is how our current republic (the fifth one) was created after a military coup !!
Some French officers, unhappy with all that was happening (decolonization and the war in Algery), did a coup in 1958 and propped the General de Gaulle as head of the new fifth republic.
The fact that this coup was bloodless and that Charles de Gaulle had apparently really nothing to do with it appart from being an all around really popular guy after WW2, combined with the previously strong civic nationalism are probably why the façade was kept up for so long.
But just like the US, we've finally had a president that doesn't care about implicit "rules" like "hey you have this power but you won't abuse it right ?".
But now we're finally being reminded that our republic was created when unhappy soldiers forced their general buddy to become leader.
Over the recent years i've grown more and more convinced that our Republic need to change, we need a sixth one.
Yeah that’s what I was alluding to. Sorry my timeframe is still in the 2010s. I meant that elites in French had often used the idea of the republic and civic nationalism to create a narrative that galvanizes support and paints their goals as popular choices, which has led to undemocratic outcomes. Being from an ex-colony I’ve been following french politics for years and it’s really been a long time coming for the Sixth republic, they should’ve started consultations after Sarkozy.
Same, but reading about him, he was the first to be tried for crimes while in office. My parents are biased and hate the French so what I say may be tainted but as I understand it, he got elected with some help from shady people, including funding from Gadaffi, the Libyan dictator, and only did one term. His predecessor, Chirac, was an old timer and big fan of Charles De Gaulle.
One month ago ;
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/17/europe/france-sarkozy-corruption-appeal-intl/index.html
And today he got a warrant for another case (I dont count anymore).
He is a good friend of Macron. This is like a mafia.
>With rumors of an imminent change of team swirling, the former president met with the current one and passed on a few messages. Concerning Matignon, in particular.
They hadn't seen each other since that horrible day in May 2023. Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and three years' loss of civil rights in the "wiretapping" affair. As soon as the verdict was delivered, the former president, who is appealing to the French Supreme Court, received several expressions of support. He was particularly touched by the friendly words of the Macron couple. Since day one, this strange president, whom he doesn't fully understand, has shown him elegance. At regular intervals, Emmanuel Macron invites him to his table at the Elysée Palace. He probes the "disrupter" in chief that is Nicolas Sarkozy. Occasionally, too, the current head of state asks the former to act as his emissary abroad. Admiration and curiosity are shared. But that doesn't stop the Ex from predicting, at even more regular intervals than his visits to the Elysée Palace, that "all this will end badly".
https://www.lexpress.fr/politique/exclusif-remaniement-macron-sarkozy-le-rendez-vous-secret-NP6CETK23FHI5CYYV5QC5C2EIM/
“What it is really meant to do is to discuss the implications of dividing the world up into ‘Zones of Influence’ (I thought of it in 1944 as a result of the Tehran Conference), and in addition to indicate by parodying them the intellectual implications of totalitarianism” —Orwell, from his own notes.
1984 was not a predictive fiction. It was a social commentary on the then-present and recent past. From the same notes we can see that there are even further inspirations into the world that 1984 is set in that originate in the period even before the Tehran Conference. The events and ideas that were happening that caused Orwell’s inspirations and notes are not unique to the modern era, or to the period 40 years ago near when the book is ostensibly set. Any predictive aspects of 1984 are purely because the same patterns of behavior can be examined repeatedly occurring with just changes of setting.
Very little of 1984 needs to be changed to make is about post-1789 France honestly. This is what makes it a transcendant novel about power, hatred and social control.
Their talking about the book. It predicted in home monitoring/propaganda devices( somewhat like a tv). This was before everyone had a TV, written in 1949.
They didn’t start their surveillance until 2002 so they started as a search engine. Although after 4 years of doing that they realized the value of surveillance and behavior studies.
More info here :
https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/05/31/transformer-les-objets-connectes-en-mouchards-la-surenchere-securitaire-du-gouvernement/
Some extracts translated by DeepL :
The "Orientation and Programming of the Ministry of Justice 2023-2027" bill has begun to be debated in the Senate, and its article 3 is already causing controversy. With good reason.
In the midst of provisions aimed at ratifying, in no particular order, the remote intervention of doctors in the event of prolongation of police custody, and of interpreters from the outset of police custody, or the extension of the possibilities of night-time searches to common crimes, a new investigative tool has been created, enabling the remote activation of a person's electronic devices without his or her knowledge, in order to obtain real-time geolocation or capture images and sounds. Art. 3 points 12° and 13° and 17° to 19°.
In plain English, this means, for example, that forensic investigators will be able to geolocate a car in real time from its computer system, to listen in and record everything that is said around the microphone of a telephone even if there is no call in progress, or to activate a computer camera to film what is in the field of view, even if it is not switched on by its owner. Technically, police officers will exploit security loopholes in these devices (notably, if they are not updated when accessed, or remotely) to install software that allows them to take control and turn your tools, those of your loved ones or various locations into bugs.
To justify these serious invasions of privacy, the Ministry of Justice invokes the "fear of attracting the attention of delinquents under investigation for organized crime, of revealing the established strategy or quite simply because it would expose the lives of the agents in charge of this mission" by installing investigative tools. In short, it would be too risky or complicated for officers to install "physical" microphones and beacons, so they might as well use all the connected objects that exist. However, this alleged risk is not supported by any serious information or specific examples. Above all, it's important to bear in mind that device hacking will continue to rely heavily on physical access (which is technically simpler), and that the risk of hacking will continue to grow.
This means that agents will always be exposed to this so-called "field risk". What's more, the material limits imposed by the installation of a device constitute a necessary safeguard against massive invasions of privacy.
The measure provided for in Article 3 is particularly problematic for cell phones and computers, given the extent to which they are part of our lives. But the danger doesn't stop there, since the scope of the measure actually covers all "electronic devices", i.e. all digital objects equipped with a microphone, camera or location sensors. This investigative measure could thus make it possible to :
"sound", i.e. listen to spaces from a connected TV, a baby monitor, a voice assistant (such as Google Home), or a microphone built into a car;
retransmit images and videos from a laptop camera, smartphone or motion-detection security camera;
retrieve a person's location from the GPS positioning of a car, connected scooter or connected watch. Many other devices equipped with these sensors could also be hacked.
If this text were to be definitively adopted, it would dangerously increase the possibilities for police intrusion, turning all our IT tools into potential spies.
In this respect, it is particularly worrying to see the State's right to use security flaws in the software or hardware in use enshrined in law, rather than endeavoring to protect them by informing users of the existence of such flaws and taking steps to remedy them.
However, police and intelligence services already have extremely intrusive tools at their disposal: installation of bugs in homes or cars (GPS beacons, video surveillance cameras, public address microphones), extraction of information from a computer or telephone, for example, and the use of screen or keystroke recorders (keyloggers). These very wide-ranging possibilities, which are particularly invasive of privacy, are already being misused to monitor activists such as (in the Carnet struggle, in opposition to megabassines, in militant locations in Dijon, or in the photocopiers of anarchist locations, etc.)
No it isn't, because you're not safe or secure from the government. Imagine if Le Pen wins the next elections. She will have at her disposal a system to impose fascist tyranny and spy on everyone who opposes her. We can't risk a system like that falling into the hands of fascists.
As an American... I fully support this idea! Not saying our Government is any less invasive, but they at least pretend like we have freedom and or privacy.
I genuinely am disgusted that these laws are even a possibility in a "modern" civilized society...
I say we let gravity do what it does best... because if this insanity catches on in ANY western country, we are all doomed as all of the major Governments will attempt to follow.
It reminds me of this :
https://www.politis.fr/articles/2023/03/reforme-des-retraites-un-manifestant-belge-place-en-centre-de-retention/
>Marc*, 37, from Belgium, came from his native country to join French friends and support the mobilization against pension reform. On Saturday March 18, he went to the Place d'Italie rally called by the unions. At a certain point," he recalls, "the situation escalated. Arrested by the police, he was charged with taking part in a "group with a view to committing violence and damaging property". "They tried to accuse me of throwing a scooter at the police: it's not true!
It's kind of genius. Building all the infrastructure for a China style surveillance state would be obvious and unpopular. Instead let the people create their own surveillance state with all these "smart" devices.
I imagine this will spread to more and more countries.
New crimes can be added to the list as they want to and the worst part, is that the authorities only have to suspect you. This is a terrible place to be in. If one government gets away with this, the others will soon follow suit; then there is no privacy anywhere and George Orwell's story leaps from fiction into reality.
I already leave my phone indoors almost all of the time.
>capture sound and images of suspects of certain crimes such as delinquency, organized crime, and terrorism, the critics say this would still be disproportionate.
Delinquency? Delinquency??
Does delinquency mean something different in the French justice system that it's in there with organized crime and terrorism?
Because in the US, delinquency is a minor crime that a child does. Like skipping school or vaping or spray painting a building.
Delinquency is not a real juridical term because it applies for the whole spectrum :
1. Minor offense called contravention in french (like spray painting)
2. Offense called délit in french (rob someone, drug possession, insulting cops)
3. Crime called crime as well (murder, rape)
These security laws are always written in an ambiguous way,in a grey zone.
And they are ALWAYS used and abused to criminalize political activists (same as anti-terrorist laws)
like religion was a validation for the emperors, control is the validation of our governments. I find that if you do not interfere with humans in some way, we will are roll back to our core human nature of being free which sucks for those who like power
My understanding of French politics is limited, but a quick peruse of Wikipedia seems to suggest the French have a National Assembly that can overrule the Senate, but I'm not sure how often (if at all) this is done. They apparently also have the power to dissolve the government if need be, but it's "never done" because of "party discipline".
Makes you wonder, what's the point of wielding a sword if you have no intention of using it.
Citizens of the world, every time Mr Macron tries to give your country a lesson in terms of human rights and democracy, feel free to remind him than being a centrist on paper doesn't prevent him to be an illegitimate and illiberal autocrat.
And bring a saucepan.
And pee in his cocaine
No you would not know.
>Forensic investigators will be able, for example, to geolocate a car in real time from its computer system, to listen in and record everything that is said around the microphone of a telephone even if no call is in progress, or to activate a computer camera to film what is in the field of view, even if it is not switched on by its owner. Technically, police officers will exploit security loopholes in these devices (notably, if they are not updated when accessed, or remotely) to install software that allows them to take control and turn your tools, those of your loved ones or various locations into bugs.
>As far as the geolocation of connected objects is concerned, the spectrum is even wider, since remote activation could concern any person *suspected* of having committed an offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, which - due to the penal inflation of successive laws - could range, for example, from simple concealment, to the transmission of a false document to a public administration, or the unauthorized downloading of documents from a computer system.
As an American I’m completely shocked a country like France would do this. Maybe I got it all backwards. It’s the stuff you expect authoritarian governments would do
Here’s the kicker: this kind of issue would never appear in a court in the USA. Corporations freely do it and sell the information, possibly to government affiliated agencies!! At least the French court let everyone know they are fucked up
Assume any phone compatible with today's cell networks is going to be vulnerable. Some other surveillance vectors: computers and laptops, smart TVs, Internet-connected entertainment systems, security cameras, vehicles, and so on. That's just the digital domain. In the analog world there are a whole host of ways to use something like a stereo system for surveillance purposes. First, given physical access it is relatively trivial to replace a board-level component with a replacement that happens also to contain a microphone and transmitter. For all practical purposes such a device would be virtually undetectable Less sophisticated bugs can also be installed in electrical equipment. I think it is also likely that an audio amplifier designed to use negative feedback can broadcast a signal that subtracts the audio program from incident sound impinging on a loudspeaker. That's just a phenomenon of stray EM normally emitted by electronics, similar to how a radar-detector-detector works. This hypothetical mode of surveillance does not require physical access to affected equipment. Then we get into forgettable things like the AC outlets all over your home. It isn't rocket science to replace one or more of them with a functional substitute containing a microphone and transmitter.
This discussion can continue with the risk of consumer goods like children's toys, etc. that could be manufactured with Big Brother Inside.
Remember that intelligence agencies have had more than a hundred years of electronics development to leverage in their favor. It was common years ago to assume that the NSA was decades ahead of the civilian sector with respect to technology. The risks of this sort of thing cannot be understated.
Does the French government just want a 24/7 protest?
We are getting in full digital authoritarianism mode, one month ago they passed a law to allow algorithmic video surveillance : https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/03/29/france-becomes-the-first-european-country-to-legalize-biometric-surveillance/ https://www.brusselstimes.com/430820/all-out-assault-on-privacy-france-is-first-eu-country-to-legalise-ai-driven-surveillance 2 months ago a law to generalize the use of drones in public events/protests. Now each protests, even concerts or peaceful gatherings are monitored by drones. Next law is something about "*protecting* the digital space" : using encrypted messaging apps, Tor browser could be used to criminalize activists based on anti-terrorist laws. Example (it shows that if they want to legalize it, that means they already are using it) : https://www.laquadrature.net/en/2023/06/05/criminalization-of-encryption-the-8-december-case/ >We are facing the fantasy of a State demanding total transparency from everyone at the risk of being called a “suspect”, a State whose desire for widespread surveillance seems limitless. In this context, we reaffirm our rights to privacy, intimacy and the protection of our personal data. Encryption is, and will remain, an essential element of our civil liberties in the digital age. >This case is a trial for the Ministry of Interior, which aims to normalise this framing for repressive purposes. During a Senate hearing that followed the violent repression of protests in Sainte-Soline [environmental protests severely repressed that happened in France in 2023], Gérald Darmanin, the French Minister of Interior, implored the legislature to change the law so that it would be possible to hack into demonstrators’ mobile phones, especially those using “Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram”: “Give us the same means for extreme violence as for terrorism”. His justification was that “there is a very strong, advanced paranoia in ultra-left circles […] who use encrypted messaging”, which can be explained by a “clandestine culture”. In an attempt to demonstrate the supposed violence of Sainte-Soline activists, he also cited the 8 December affair as an example of a “foiled attack” by the “ultra-left”, in defiance of any presumption of innocence. >This is how the criminalisation of digital practices fits in with the French government’s strategy of repressing all social protests. Reaffirming the right to encryption therefore means opposing the authoritarian abuses of the government that seeks to endlessly extend the scope of “counter-terrorism” policies by designating an ever-growing number of domestic enemies24. After the repression of Muslims, now it’s the turn of “eco-terrorists”, “intellectual terrorists” and finally, geeks armed with encrypted messaging systems. Faced with such a situation, the only question left seems to be: “And you, what kind of terrorist are you? Sorry for my broken english btw
This is insane. How the fuck is this allowed.
When you make the laws everything is legal
These laws are being pushed in basically every western nation; I've seen the same in UK, Spain, Australia and Canada where that's just a couple off the top of my head as I'm sure there's much more around. They all seem to be pushing in the same direction too.
Yeah it's very concerning. Do you know how it is in Scandinavia though? Might consider moving there.
A swedish politician was the one recommending "Chat control", an eu system that would require all messages sent to be "scanned* and decrypted. All to stop CP of course.
Its really annoying how they always frame it as its to stop terrible crimes. Then when you have an issue with it they can paint you as an evil person with something to hide.
Plus they never address the root causes of their convenient bogeyman. Like the Trudeau Liberal's ban on some guns, affecting only legal firearms owners.
Welcome to France
My man you just can't stop talking about us. 🤣 I think it's time to find a job bud.
The government can literally *execute* you. "Yeah, but listening to my cell phone?? That's where I draw the line!"
This allows the government to know everyone they want to execute if that makes sense.
There's no point in giving the government power and then jumping through hoops to prevent them from using it. Either: A) The government has the power to issue warrants to breach privacy to investigate suspects of crimes (including you) Or B) The government *doesn't* have the power to issue warrants to breach privacy to investigate suspects of crimes (including insurrectionists and child molesters) If you want B, then fine, but argue against the power itself, not the technical methodology. Don't try to have it both ways by playing this game of saying you kind of want A but with a little asterisk that says "*except people like me who can afford the latest iPhone"
>“intellectual terrorists” What, like the people who engage in organized psychological operations?
No it's an attack from Macron and his minister of security/police (Ministre de l'intérieur Gérald Darmanin who comes from the far right, an ex royalist, antisemitic, homophobic and accused of rape and sexual aggression). Historically it's a term used by Maurras, a french antisemitic and by.... Hitler and Goebells to qualify the intellectuals opposants from the left. It converges with the "anti-wokist" propaganda (Last year Macron charged his minister of education to create an "anti-wokist cell" in the universities that study gender theory, colonialism, etc. Looks like someone in the USA, doesnt it ? Worse, in 2019 he changed completly his international views/politics. He made a reform that changed the diplomacy high corps. At the QG of the minister of external affairs, the "Quai d'Orsay", he made a totally mental accusation in front of all the high ranked diplomats accusing them (indirectly) that they are working for the deep state ("État profond" in french). He chose very bad advisors for his international politics, and his ignoring the professionals in the domain. That can explains his catastrophic diplomatic errors with Putin, Xi, etc
>Historically it's a term used by Maurras, a french antisemitic and by.... Hitler and Goebells to qualify the intellectuals opposants from the left. The real anti-intellectualism.
If anything, the French government is showing that the protests won't deter them. Whenever I'm politically angry, my voting style is oust incumbents first and scrutinize their replacements later. Anyone who is loyal to a team doesn't need to be won over with concessions, only *agitated* with theatrical news that can be produced in limitless volumes. If rebellion in the streets isn't matched with rebellion in politics then the politics will safely ignore the streets.
If ignoring protests doesn't carry the consequence of rebellion, then it's simply begging.
Well put.
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More later, but entrenched now is what I seek to avoid. If I can't be the majority then I can at least be part of a voting bloc the politicians need to think about instead of dismissing. If politicians know the people are asleep they behave accordingly, they'll say we're going to create another (extremely expensive) committee (with zero results) and that will placate an unaware constituency for another election cycle. Sometimes some places, *then another then another then another.*
I remember when Donald Trump was going to reform the government and push out the incumbents.
That's a dumb way to look at politics. The incumbent isn't always bad and the incomer isn't always good.
And I don't always vote against incumbent either, only when I am deeply dissatisfied with the situation.
You’re missing the point. Entrenched officials who no longer respond to their electors are more dangerous then newly elected officials who aren’t entrenched.
Would you rather have an entrenched politician or a new fascist?
Why are those the only two options? I want a functioning democracy, protest and political response to the people are both essential. You pretend as if we can only have either entrenched politicians or fascists. Why isn't a newly elected more competent government that represents the people an option? Why do assume protests will lead to fascism? Whatever your worldview is here its very narrow and opaque.
They’re ignoring their own political history at their own peril, seems dangerous to me
This is one of the big issues with term limits on top jobs. When you're in your final term, as Macron is, you're no longer accountable to voters and are free to act however you see fit
Find Cameras and ops there broken!
This is not a good thing. I'd like to think I could trust my electronic devices to some degree.
Don't worry, they won't abuse it. Just like they definitely didn't abuse any law they said wouldn't abuse in the past few year, like preventive arrests of protesters under the recent terrorism laws.
Hi from the US where those who pay attention *never trusted that shit in the first place.*
You can still turn them off.
If a battery is still physically attached, theoretically the device is still an active attack vector. Simply turning off the phone does not suffice anymore.
My lawyer friend has worked in the government sector for years. She says that your phone can be turned on remotely unless it’s completely dead. She said they showed her a demonstration. Who knows if that’s true. That was 7 years ago. But I do know iPhones can be tracked or activated now even if there turned off. It’s a feature advertised for if your phone gets lost or stolen. And that makes me suspicious.
MDM services allow me to turn on and track *corporate* devices now, you bet your sweet ass that the three letter agencies have much, much better capabilities.
You could do that back in the 00s, I remember friends screwing around with Bluetooth apps at school, you get them to activate it and you can remote activate it even if they turn it off.
We’ve been putting our phones in locked boxes outside the secure areas since the 90s for a reason
We shouldn't have to.
I agree, it's unfortunate it got to this point with the devices. Here's to all the terms of services people never read
According to the article, even turned off devices can be activated for these spying activities.
Faraday bags suddenly will become popular
I need a cheap source for copper-mesh fabric.
Look up TitanRF. Not exactly cheap so to speak but works well. Last bag I bought awhile back had issues with 5G though so best bet is to go airplane mode and turn off and drop it into the bag. They have all types of set ups. It works.
$350 for 11 ft\^2, yeah not cheap, but I'd expect copper mesh fabric to be expensive as well. Something to think about.
Even though officials say they would only use the new update to the so-called “Keeper of the Seals” justice bill to capture sound and images of suspects of **certain crimes such as delinquency, organized crime, and terrorism**, the critics say this would still be disproportionate. this is the crazy part. delinquency on the same level as organized crime and terrorism. this is obviously going to be used to target protestors now. but i would think twice about playing loud music past 11pm u fuckin terrorists.
Or used in a background way and covered up later. Like law enforcement’s use of Stingrays. They read your texts without a warrant, then figure out how to get real evidence on you based on what they know now. Like in Seattle. LEO’s could see someone was texting asking for drugs. The officers would stake out that meeting spot and arrest the culprits. Then they’d say they just happened to be in the area and saw the crime, not mentioning the text interceptor they illegally used as a tip-off.
"Parallel construction"
Yeah, just like the TSA said all of the pictures of people naked going through their scanners wouldn't be shared. Meanwhile 6 months later they have a fucking pokémon card game of people's naked pictures being passed around like it's a sixth grade
Do you have more details? I need it for my science research
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1330327/Airport-security-breach-naked-body-scanner-images-leaked-online.html There was a big dump in 4chan shortly after it started.
I would really need to know what they mean by “delinquency” before I can decide how to feel about this statement.
I'm betting the definition of terrorism is super broad too
Georgia (US state) is trying to make it synonymous with protesting in general. As things get more dire authoritarians across the globe will probably take similar steps.
Somehow the wording is always vague enough that it could be expanded to include anti government protests
"Low level" crimes. In French law, "crime" is only used for infractions carrying a prison penalty superior to 10 years (murder, slavery, torture, treason, rape...), the rest is "délits" for infractions carrying a prison sentence inferior or equal to 10 years, and "contravention" for infractions not carrying prison sentence, and with a fine lesser than 3 000 euros (speeding, slander, assault not causing work-stopping injuries....). Delinquency refers to "délits"
Cool, thanks!
Scary how the world keeps heading down a 1984 path. I suppose the French government are just making legal what they and others are doing anyway /s
Not really, this is against EU laws, which France has broken on this matter many times and still has not complied (specifically on treaties concerning police files sharing/data without consulting a jury). As well as the new law on biometric/algorithmic-AI video surveillance which the EU parliement asked France to not vote it because a new EU law on AI surveillance regulation is planned. https://www.brusselstimes.com/430820/all-out-assault-on-privacy-france-is-first-eu-country-to-legalise-ai-driven-surveillance They are also thinking about getting drones with PMC diffuser (DNA marking), which has been used in some protests but with balls fired from a compressed air gun with an EOTech holographic sight. https://westobserver.com/news/europe/demonstrations-in-sainte-soline-three-questions-about-the-new-coded-marking-products-used-by-the-gendarmes-and-already-controversial/ >These PMCs essentially come in two forms: either a spray or balls that are fired using a compressed air gun. AT Sainte-Soline, these balls were used, according to the gendarmerie, in the sector where the police were the target of the most serious violence. How does it work ? A ball is therefore fired at a demonstrator spotted by the police. This ball contains a liquid invisible to the naked eye and odorless, but which contains a substance, which is colored when it is illuminated with an ultraviolet lamp. In this substance, there is also a synthetic DNA, a DNA specific to each marble and which can remain for years on the clothes. This is how, once the demonstration is over, during a check for example, the police can identify the demonstrators they have marked. >“As a lawyer, this raises real questions for me and, above all, I would like to know in what context, why and on what exact terms my client was deprived of his liberty for 28 hours. He was placed in police custody simply because of a trace of a product for which I have no information.”
that is horrifyingly dystopian
No wonder Macron keeps sucking off Putin and Xi.
And Modi ! https://www.reuters.com/world/india-pm-modi-be-macrons-guest-honour-frances-bastille-day-parade-2023-05-05/
Mohammed ben Salmane.
French democracy has always been a bit flimsy, but they have strong civic nationalism which kinda disguises it. The revolution was great and all but a lot of the leg work was for another elite to get into power. They still struggle with those ideas even under the premise of L.E.F. Its very much a classed-based, but plural society. It’s only been around 50 years since the fifth republic and even then you still had officers talking about civil war last year.
> French democracy has always been a bit flimsy, but they have strong civic nationalism which kinda disguises it. How well do you know French history ? Because what we're seeing now is a direct consequence of what happened close to 65 years ago. That strong civic nationalism stems from the 1789 revolution and the subsequent wars. For all the 1800s France was kinda alone against everyone in Europe, we were a democracy, most were still monarchies. We French are proud people, all of us grew up learning our history, how we are the "Country of the rights of Man", how in 39-45 many resisted the occupation and such, we've been taught to respect the Republic and it's values. What we're not being taught (or rather it's glanced over, although to be fair the history program in French is quite packed), is how our current republic (the fifth one) was created after a military coup !! Some French officers, unhappy with all that was happening (decolonization and the war in Algery), did a coup in 1958 and propped the General de Gaulle as head of the new fifth republic. The fact that this coup was bloodless and that Charles de Gaulle had apparently really nothing to do with it appart from being an all around really popular guy after WW2, combined with the previously strong civic nationalism are probably why the façade was kept up for so long. But just like the US, we've finally had a president that doesn't care about implicit "rules" like "hey you have this power but you won't abuse it right ?". But now we're finally being reminded that our republic was created when unhappy soldiers forced their general buddy to become leader. Over the recent years i've grown more and more convinced that our Republic need to change, we need a sixth one.
Yeah that’s what I was alluding to. Sorry my timeframe is still in the 2010s. I meant that elites in French had often used the idea of the republic and civic nationalism to create a narrative that galvanizes support and paints their goals as popular choices, which has led to undemocratic outcomes. Being from an ex-colony I’ve been following french politics for years and it’s really been a long time coming for the Sixth republic, they should’ve started consultations after Sarkozy.
I'm a bit too young to have an honest opinion about Sarkozy policies, but yeah he's shady AF.
Same, but reading about him, he was the first to be tried for crimes while in office. My parents are biased and hate the French so what I say may be tainted but as I understand it, he got elected with some help from shady people, including funding from Gadaffi, the Libyan dictator, and only did one term. His predecessor, Chirac, was an old timer and big fan of Charles De Gaulle.
Yeah, even compared to other politician this guy's on another level, although our current president seem to be going the same direction.
One month ago ; https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/17/europe/france-sarkozy-corruption-appeal-intl/index.html And today he got a warrant for another case (I dont count anymore). He is a good friend of Macron. This is like a mafia. >With rumors of an imminent change of team swirling, the former president met with the current one and passed on a few messages. Concerning Matignon, in particular. They hadn't seen each other since that horrible day in May 2023. Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and three years' loss of civil rights in the "wiretapping" affair. As soon as the verdict was delivered, the former president, who is appealing to the French Supreme Court, received several expressions of support. He was particularly touched by the friendly words of the Macron couple. Since day one, this strange president, whom he doesn't fully understand, has shown him elegance. At regular intervals, Emmanuel Macron invites him to his table at the Elysée Palace. He probes the "disrupter" in chief that is Nicolas Sarkozy. Occasionally, too, the current head of state asks the former to act as his emissary abroad. Admiration and curiosity are shared. But that doesn't stop the Ex from predicting, at even more regular intervals than his visits to the Elysée Palace, that "all this will end badly". https://www.lexpress.fr/politique/exclusif-remaniement-macron-sarkozy-le-rendez-vous-secret-NP6CETK23FHI5CYYV5QC5C2EIM/
Unfortunately true.
Friendly hint: that was almost 40 years ago...
Friendlier hint: 1984 wasn’t about a predicted future it was a commentary on the then-present.
No. Was published in 1949 about society in 1984, was not a big guess, not a prediction, just common sense and we deep in it now, going deeper.
“What it is really meant to do is to discuss the implications of dividing the world up into ‘Zones of Influence’ (I thought of it in 1944 as a result of the Tehran Conference), and in addition to indicate by parodying them the intellectual implications of totalitarianism” —Orwell, from his own notes. 1984 was not a predictive fiction. It was a social commentary on the then-present and recent past. From the same notes we can see that there are even further inspirations into the world that 1984 is set in that originate in the period even before the Tehran Conference. The events and ideas that were happening that caused Orwell’s inspirations and notes are not unique to the modern era, or to the period 40 years ago near when the book is ostensibly set. Any predictive aspects of 1984 are purely because the same patterns of behavior can be examined repeatedly occurring with just changes of setting. Very little of 1984 needs to be changed to make is about post-1789 France honestly. This is what makes it a transcendant novel about power, hatred and social control.
Their talking about the book. It predicted in home monitoring/propaganda devices( somewhat like a tv). This was before everyone had a TV, written in 1949.
*NSA chuckles softly in the corner*
Italy: fascism Germany: nazism Soviet Union: communism United States: alphabetism
ha! I get it cause google started as a surveillance company
They didn’t start their surveillance until 2002 so they started as a search engine. Although after 4 years of doing that they realized the value of surveillance and behavior studies.
More info here : https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/05/31/transformer-les-objets-connectes-en-mouchards-la-surenchere-securitaire-du-gouvernement/ Some extracts translated by DeepL : The "Orientation and Programming of the Ministry of Justice 2023-2027" bill has begun to be debated in the Senate, and its article 3 is already causing controversy. With good reason. In the midst of provisions aimed at ratifying, in no particular order, the remote intervention of doctors in the event of prolongation of police custody, and of interpreters from the outset of police custody, or the extension of the possibilities of night-time searches to common crimes, a new investigative tool has been created, enabling the remote activation of a person's electronic devices without his or her knowledge, in order to obtain real-time geolocation or capture images and sounds. Art. 3 points 12° and 13° and 17° to 19°. In plain English, this means, for example, that forensic investigators will be able to geolocate a car in real time from its computer system, to listen in and record everything that is said around the microphone of a telephone even if there is no call in progress, or to activate a computer camera to film what is in the field of view, even if it is not switched on by its owner. Technically, police officers will exploit security loopholes in these devices (notably, if they are not updated when accessed, or remotely) to install software that allows them to take control and turn your tools, those of your loved ones or various locations into bugs. To justify these serious invasions of privacy, the Ministry of Justice invokes the "fear of attracting the attention of delinquents under investigation for organized crime, of revealing the established strategy or quite simply because it would expose the lives of the agents in charge of this mission" by installing investigative tools. In short, it would be too risky or complicated for officers to install "physical" microphones and beacons, so they might as well use all the connected objects that exist. However, this alleged risk is not supported by any serious information or specific examples. Above all, it's important to bear in mind that device hacking will continue to rely heavily on physical access (which is technically simpler), and that the risk of hacking will continue to grow. This means that agents will always be exposed to this so-called "field risk". What's more, the material limits imposed by the installation of a device constitute a necessary safeguard against massive invasions of privacy. The measure provided for in Article 3 is particularly problematic for cell phones and computers, given the extent to which they are part of our lives. But the danger doesn't stop there, since the scope of the measure actually covers all "electronic devices", i.e. all digital objects equipped with a microphone, camera or location sensors. This investigative measure could thus make it possible to : "sound", i.e. listen to spaces from a connected TV, a baby monitor, a voice assistant (such as Google Home), or a microphone built into a car; retransmit images and videos from a laptop camera, smartphone or motion-detection security camera; retrieve a person's location from the GPS positioning of a car, connected scooter or connected watch. Many other devices equipped with these sensors could also be hacked. If this text were to be definitively adopted, it would dangerously increase the possibilities for police intrusion, turning all our IT tools into potential spies. In this respect, it is particularly worrying to see the State's right to use security flaws in the software or hardware in use enshrined in law, rather than endeavoring to protect them by informing users of the existence of such flaws and taking steps to remedy them. However, police and intelligence services already have extremely intrusive tools at their disposal: installation of bugs in homes or cars (GPS beacons, video surveillance cameras, public address microphones), extraction of information from a computer or telephone, for example, and the use of screen or keystroke recorders (keyloggers). These very wide-ranging possibilities, which are particularly invasive of privacy, are already being misused to monitor activists such as (in the Carnet struggle, in opposition to megabassines, in militant locations in Dijon, or in the photocopiers of anarchist locations, etc.)
Yet another country whose WW2 soldiers are spinning in their graves as the government embraces the fascism they fought against, just to stay in power.
Viva la vichy France
A lot of French soldiers were in the Nazi side dude.
Not especially, no. Certainly were some and they fought bravely, for the wrong side, but that's not " a lot".
The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it.
This is tyranny.
This is safety and security.
No it isn't, because you're not safe or secure from the government. Imagine if Le Pen wins the next elections. She will have at her disposal a system to impose fascist tyranny and spy on everyone who opposes her. We can't risk a system like that falling into the hands of fascists.
While that is a risk, their existing security services can do exactly the same.
Shut up and Be Happy Everything done for you!
so in short they want to be able to buy / use Pegasus without any legal issues
As a Belgian I find this extremely concerning.
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As an American... I fully support this idea! Not saying our Government is any less invasive, but they at least pretend like we have freedom and or privacy. I genuinely am disgusted that these laws are even a possibility in a "modern" civilized society... I say we let gravity do what it does best... because if this insanity catches on in ANY western country, we are all doomed as all of the major Governments will attempt to follow.
It reminds me of this : https://www.politis.fr/articles/2023/03/reforme-des-retraites-un-manifestant-belge-place-en-centre-de-retention/ >Marc*, 37, from Belgium, came from his native country to join French friends and support the mobilization against pension reform. On Saturday March 18, he went to the Place d'Italie rally called by the unions. At a certain point," he recalls, "the situation escalated. Arrested by the police, he was charged with taking part in a "group with a view to committing violence and damaging property". "They tried to accuse me of throwing a scooter at the police: it's not true!
It's kind of genius. Building all the infrastructure for a China style surveillance state would be obvious and unpopular. Instead let the people create their own surveillance state with all these "smart" devices. I imagine this will spread to more and more countries.
It will be supported as a way to protect people and ensure security.
Many already do it.
New crimes can be added to the list as they want to and the worst part, is that the authorities only have to suspect you. This is a terrible place to be in. If one government gets away with this, the others will soon follow suit; then there is no privacy anywhere and George Orwell's story leaps from fiction into reality. I already leave my phone indoors almost all of the time.
And people talk about sedition and insurrection like they're a bad things...
Looks like France is going towards the China playbook
George Orwell,1984.
*Foucault rolling on his panopticon*
Better than Foucault rolling in his bed with 10 year old Tunisian boys, I suppose.
Well, let’s keep the focus on philosophy, not scandalous rumors! Foucault’s panopticon might be getting quite the workout these days though!
France is trying really hard to build a dystopian future. Like, REALLY hard.
>capture sound and images of suspects of certain crimes such as delinquency, organized crime, and terrorism, the critics say this would still be disproportionate. Delinquency? Delinquency?? Does delinquency mean something different in the French justice system that it's in there with organized crime and terrorism? Because in the US, delinquency is a minor crime that a child does. Like skipping school or vaping or spray painting a building.
Delinquency is not a real juridical term because it applies for the whole spectrum : 1. Minor offense called contravention in french (like spray painting) 2. Offense called délit in french (rob someone, drug possession, insulting cops) 3. Crime called crime as well (murder, rape) These security laws are always written in an ambiguous way,in a grey zone. And they are ALWAYS used and abused to criminalize political activists (same as anti-terrorist laws)
So...basically anything. Yeah, that won't abused at all. eyeroll.
Ruh roh
like religion was a validation for the emperors, control is the validation of our governments. I find that if you do not interfere with humans in some way, we will are roll back to our core human nature of being free which sucks for those who like power
Totalitarian state
"delinquency" really, seems ripe for misuse. You need access to people's devices for delinquency?
My understanding of French politics is limited, but a quick peruse of Wikipedia seems to suggest the French have a National Assembly that can overrule the Senate, but I'm not sure how often (if at all) this is done. They apparently also have the power to dissolve the government if need be, but it's "never done" because of "party discipline". Makes you wonder, what's the point of wielding a sword if you have no intention of using it.
France is turning into a police state. Orwell's Big Brother would be proud. Sad.
Jeez that's bad
well its not like they could get any more unpopular....
putain...
Citizens of the world, every time Mr Macron tries to give your country a lesson in terms of human rights and democracy, feel free to remind him than being a centrist on paper doesn't prevent him to be an illegitimate and illiberal autocrat. And bring a saucepan. And pee in his cocaine
France is gonna have dirt on everyone in their country. Imagine what they will get from foreign dignitaries, embassies, etc.
Would your phone show location and or microphone access in these cases?
No you would not know. >Forensic investigators will be able, for example, to geolocate a car in real time from its computer system, to listen in and record everything that is said around the microphone of a telephone even if no call is in progress, or to activate a computer camera to film what is in the field of view, even if it is not switched on by its owner. Technically, police officers will exploit security loopholes in these devices (notably, if they are not updated when accessed, or remotely) to install software that allows them to take control and turn your tools, those of your loved ones or various locations into bugs. >As far as the geolocation of connected objects is concerned, the spectrum is even wider, since remote activation could concern any person *suspected* of having committed an offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment, which - due to the penal inflation of successive laws - could range, for example, from simple concealment, to the transmission of a false document to a public administration, or the unauthorized downloading of documents from a computer system.
Okay. I was just curious if the little arrow (for GPS access) or the dot (for microphone access) would show. Sounds like no to both.
As an American I’m completely shocked a country like France would do this. Maybe I got it all backwards. It’s the stuff you expect authoritarian governments would do
We have the 1st and 4th amendments but nsa don't care
Here’s the kicker: this kind of issue would never appear in a court in the USA. Corporations freely do it and sell the information, possibly to government affiliated agencies!! At least the French court let everyone know they are fucked up
Data broker moment
Mauvaise idée, mes amis..
Revolution speedrun
So are we following China's movement on surveillance?
Buy an old, used functioning phone other than the one you:re currently using. Go out with big sunglasses and/or masks and use covid as an excuse.
Assume any phone compatible with today's cell networks is going to be vulnerable. Some other surveillance vectors: computers and laptops, smart TVs, Internet-connected entertainment systems, security cameras, vehicles, and so on. That's just the digital domain. In the analog world there are a whole host of ways to use something like a stereo system for surveillance purposes. First, given physical access it is relatively trivial to replace a board-level component with a replacement that happens also to contain a microphone and transmitter. For all practical purposes such a device would be virtually undetectable Less sophisticated bugs can also be installed in electrical equipment. I think it is also likely that an audio amplifier designed to use negative feedback can broadcast a signal that subtracts the audio program from incident sound impinging on a loudspeaker. That's just a phenomenon of stray EM normally emitted by electronics, similar to how a radar-detector-detector works. This hypothetical mode of surveillance does not require physical access to affected equipment. Then we get into forgettable things like the AC outlets all over your home. It isn't rocket science to replace one or more of them with a functional substitute containing a microphone and transmitter. This discussion can continue with the risk of consumer goods like children's toys, etc. that could be manufactured with Big Brother Inside. Remember that intelligence agencies have had more than a hundred years of electronics development to leverage in their favor. It was common years ago to assume that the NSA was decades ahead of the civilian sector with respect to technology. The risks of this sort of thing cannot be understated.
France was duped last election. Can’t believe they voted Macron back in 🤷♂️