Launched (as an experiment) from January 15th last year, the Reporty software (a start-up whose president is the former Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Barud Barak, recently received with full honors by Christian Estrosi at the City Hall) allows residents to film acts of incivility.
It was made available to 2,000 people chosen among municipal employees and others who were to alert the police. The results of this test are not known as of today.
For the municipal opposition, this application, promoted by Christian Estrosi, who is always fascinated by Israeli security methods, is nothing more than a “generalized denunciation.”
Beyond all the polemics between proponents of absolute security and those for whom individual liberty is paramount, the CNIL called for the end of the experiment on the grounds that “the law does not currently allow for the use of this type of technology.”
Would it not have been wiser to seek advice before embarking on such a borderline project?
A serious slap in the face for the Mayor of Nice, who reacted rather tangentially: “Once again, without a real explanation or motivation, the CNIL opposes initiatives taken in the field of security, brandishing the protection of individual liberties as a banner, without caring about those who suffer daily from infringements on their own freedoms.”
One wonders why there’s such amalgamation between two equally important principles.
The continuation is even more flavorful: “I can already hear left-wing opponents claiming victory without even considering the opportunity and effectiveness of this system. But they should not be mistaken! It is the terrorists and those who want to harm our democracy who benefit from this decision. As a man of the right, I will always believe that we cannot win the war with the laws of peace and that we must constantly adapt to fight crime and terrorism, which evolve every day.”
But is Christian Estrosi pointing to the CNIL’s prohibition or his tarnished image in relation to his opponents? And why associate terrorism with the incivilities that this application was supposed to report to the police? One should hope that the fight against terrorism does not boil down to Reporty and that many other means of intelligence, technology, and intervention are being implemented.
On one point, the position of the Mayor of Nice is more than fair. It is when he recalls the need for rules to be established and consistent at the European Union level.
“Why should what is just in Great Britain, Belgium, or Germany be condemnable in France?”- questions Christian Estrosi.
His hope, as he has addressed the Minister of the Interior in this regard, is “that a European authority be genuinely created in place of the CNIL, and that the recommendations of this entity apply, harmoniously, throughout the Schengen area.”
