// Security NEWS // When French Intelligence Collects Information... Illegally
Under the guise of the fight against terrorism, the French secret services collect and share their information, in the absence of a legal framework.
All countries are doing it, don't be a fool.
The "Quadrature du Net" has just referred the matter to the Council of State concerning the existence of this ultra-confidential "warehouse".
"If by any chance a court, the Council of State or the Constitutional Council, were to be seized, its very existence could be called into question," wrote Le Monde on 29 April last about the "warehouse".
An intelligence infrastructure that has remained secret within the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), which collects and shares its information... without any legal framework.
The prophecy was finally fulfilled on Tuesday, June 25.
La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), an association that defends digital rights and is not at its first attempt, has filed an appeal with the Conseil d'État.
The reason: "illegal data sharing activities between intelligence services".
A nebulous service
Validated under the authority of François Hollande, on 14 January 2016, the "warehouse" as it is called by insiders allows the secret services to exchange data collected as part of their surveillance activities in order to react more quickly to the terrorist threat.
This valuable tool is used by the main intelligence services, including the DGSE, the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGIS) and the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), which is reportedly operating illegally.
As reported by Le Monde, the legal framework is incomplete.
The core of the problem lies at the heart of the law of 21 July 2016 extending the state of emergency.
The government then amended Article L. 863-2, which states that the intelligence services "may share all information useful for the performance of their missions".
The end of the text stipulates that "the terms and conditions for the application of this article shall be determined by decree of the Council of State".
However, three years later, not a single decree has been issued. In offline, a source explains to the newspaper that it is because of "lack of constitutional basis"
Not a shadow of a decree in three years
As explained by LQDN :
"The 2016 provision merely authorizes services to share their data without specifying anything, even though the Constitutional Council had required in 2015 that the legislator itself set, without relying on the government, the conditions for the exploitation, storage, and destruction of information collected as part of state supervision".
The decree would in fact never have been published since it would reveal "the unconstitutionality of its legislative basis".
The legal imbroglio lies in the fact that each French intelligence service obeys specific laws. And so, since the missions are distinct, the means at their disposal differ.
Contacted by Le Monde, the "Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés" (Cnil) states that it is not aware of the existence of the "warehouse".
"To date, no processing of personal data constituted on the basis of this article[L. 863-2] has been the subject of any formalities with the CNIL. If a new, permanent and structured data processing operation were to be created on the basis of this information, the institution continued, it would have to be subject to the prior formalities required by the regulations in force. In the present case, the information provided does not make it possible to determine whether this "warehouse" constitutes a processing of personal data ad hoc of the processing operations already carried out", writes the supervisory authority in an e-mail.
While the CNIL refuses to comment, the national newspaper claims that the National Commission for the Control of Intelligence Techniques (CNCTR), the authority responsible for approving requests for data collection, would have access to this file.
A huge amount of data in the "common pot"
This is why LQDN asks the following question:
"What happens when the data covered by these exorbitant powers are transferred to the common pot in which tens of thousands of agents, from services with very different skills and missions (TRACFIN, customs, intelligence department of the Paris police prefecture, central prison intelligence office, ANSSI, central territorial intelligence service, etc.), can potentially come to work? ».
And he replied:
"Without being strictly regulated by law, most of the data sharing practiced at the DGSE warehouse is therefore necessarily illegal and deeply prejudicial to fundamental rights".
The association of digital freedoms does not intend to stop there.
In a few weeks, LQDN will raise a Constitutionality Question (QPC) about this legal vacuum. An additional burden mechanism to counter the State's "ostrich strategy".
I've made a lot of articles with tools, explanations and advises to show you how to protect your privacy and to secure your computer, GO check them out!
This is my guide To Secure your PC after a fresh installation of Windows
If you think that your Phone or your PC has been hacked, you have to check it right now!
That's how you can be more Anonymous on the internet!
The Future of Cyber-Security, what to expect?
The best Crypto debit card – Wirex!
These are the best VPN to protect your numeric life: NordVPN, ExpressVPN and CyberGhost!
Your PC is slow? That's why!
Why is it important to Be Discreet on the Internet
Feel hot? Your Computer also!
How an Adware works?
That's how you should guard against Trojan!
What are the different Types of hackers?
Thanks