Police, gendarmerie, intelligence services and customs officers will have access to the unified TES database
According to French news radio station RFI, the decree establishing this database was signed during the French holiday weekend and went virtually unnoticed. But on Tuesday, November 8, the French National Council for Information Technology issued open and sharp criticism of the project. At the same time, the French Minister for Information Technology sent a letter to the head of the French Ministry of the Interior asking to suspend the project – it is the Ministry of the Interior that oversees the creation of the unified database.
What is the reason for the disagreement? It should be noted that the unified database will include the names, physical and electronic addresses, and biometric data (fingerprints, eye color, height, digitized photo) of all French citizens. This will be the largest database ever to exist in France, explains Mounir Mahjoubi, president of the National Council for Information Technology: “This database is to be created on the basis of two existing ones – the database containing data from issued identity cards and the database for issuing passports. By combining them and adding additional information, we get the largest database on French citizens.”
Since November 8, this database project is to be tested in the prefecture of the Yvelines department, and from the beginning of 2017 the system should operate throughout France.
Opposition to the creation of such a database has already come from far-left political parties, as well as the state Commission for Freedom on the Internet (CNIL), which has warned of the danger of using citizens' personal data for criminal purposes. Indeed, in the age of cybercrime, information about all residents of a country inevitably becomes a target for hackers. As Michel Tubiana, honorary president of the Human Rights League, warns, the more users the new system has and the more data is entered into it, the easier it will be for hackers to break into it.
The French National Council for Information Technology also opposes the creation of the TES. Its president, Mounir Mahjoubi, explained the reasons for his concern: “We criticize both the methods of its creation and the very meaning of its existence. Specifically, we fear two things.
First, when such an extensive database is created, with such a large amount of detailed personal information, it attracts the interest of all hackers in the world. Today it is impossible to create a system that is absolutely secure and closed to hackers; it is simply not feasible. And the larger the database, the more detailed the information contained in it, the more people or organizations appear who want to allocate money and specialists to obtain this database.
The second danger is internal. While this database is not yet operational, we are assured that the authorities will not abuse it. I do not think that the current Minister of the Interior intends to abuse it. But from the moment this mega-database, such a 'monster,' appears, sooner or later the functions of this monster will exceed their original boundaries. In 10-15 years, a new government may decide to use this data for new purposes.
Therefore, we believe that in creating such an exceptional database, exceptional methods should be used. It is impossible to decide on the creation of a unified database by simply signing a government decree. It is necessary to consult with experts, hold debates in parliament, and seek the opinion of the French public.”
Many experts suggest storing personal and biometric data on identity cards themselves. This way, there would be no need to create a single storage center for this information, and it would not become a target for hackers. French engineers have already developed a prototype chip that can be placed on an identity card, onto which all data of interest to security agencies can be written, stored, and even updated.
The creation of a unified database in France was first discussed in 2012, when the government of Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a bill to combat identity card forgery. But then the Constitutional Council rejected the bill, considering it unlawful to use a unified database for the purpose of combating criminal offenses.
After the controversy flared up, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve backtracked and proposed consultations in the National Assembly and the Senate.
But that is not enough, believes Mounir Mahjoubi: “I discussed this issue with the Minister of the Interior himself. He told me that consultations would be held between the government and the presidents of both houses of parliament. But that is not enough. Therefore, we (the National Council for Information Technology) have decided to hold our own consultations – with representatives of the public and experts – and then transmit our findings to deputies and senators, so that there can be a real debate in society.”
Currently, France is in a special situation – a year has passed since the Paris attacks, and the country is living under a state of emergency. French politicians are to some extent trying to meet the expectations of the population, for whom the issue of security has become one of the main concerns. Therefore, all right-wing parties have fully supported the decision of the current government. However, there is also a political context, as France is preparing for the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2017.
Mounir Mahjoubi, president of the National Council for Information Technology, warns of the danger of such politicization of the issue: “Politically, one cannot separate two concepts: freedom and security. It is impossible to promise French citizens more security at the expense of reduced freedoms, or conversely, to promise a free society and protection of personal data to the detriment of citizens’ security.”
But at the same time, modern society, and especially the political community, is not yet capable of debating such complex technological issues. That is exactly what I was trying to say at the ministry. Every technical innovation entails a whole chain of possible consequences. And that is precisely the point of a broad public discussion on this topic. Bringing these issues to the public level is also, in a sense, pedagogy. It means explaining to our citizens all the consequences of adopting one decision or another. The methods of creating and operating a unified database can be different, and each of these methods will have consequences in our daily life.
Modern democratic society has not yet developed a mechanism for discussing such complex technical issues. And yet, it needs to be done. I think that in the future such issues will be raised more and more often. Because technology is developing. On the one hand, it is becoming more complex, and on the other hand, it is increasingly present in our daily lives. The collection of personal data about our citizens will increase, and soon such databases will contain a huge amount of information. And the French people should know about this.
French human rights activists warn that the greatest danger to citizens' freedoms is posed by digitized photographs on identity cards. If the database includes photos of all French people, then in the future it will be possible to track the movements of any person, similar to what happens in American science fiction series. Already now, many train stations and squares in major French cities are equipped with video scanners that can automatically recognize people by photograph.