The NGO Amnesty International France and some left-wing politicians have expressed concern over the Olympic security bill being debated in the French Senate this week. The text would legalise the use of surveillance based on artificial intelligence systems for the first time, measures that could reach beyond the scope of the Games.
With security one of the key concerns for the international event, which kicks off in 18 months time, authorities are keen to avoid a fiaso like the one after the Champions League final at the end of May last year.
Ticket holders at the Stade de France at one of the events found themselves blocked at the entrance, and resulted i families being sprayed with tear gas by the police. Multiple thefts and assaults were also reported.
To secure the Paris 2024 Olympics, likely to attract 13 million spectators, and some 600,000 people for the opening ceremony along the banks of the Seine on 26 July, authorities are banking on the use of special automated video cameras designed to detect "suspicious activity" in the crowds using artificial intelligence algorithms.
Installed both around the sporting venues and in adjacent transport, the cameras will be able to detect "abandoned objects", or allow "statistical analyses, crowd flow," according to the impact study of the proposed bill.
Rugby World Cup experiment
This experimental tool, if approved by lawmakers, could be tested during the Rugby World Cup (8 September - 28 October) and left in place until 30 June, 2025.
The measure, contained in Article 7 of the law, will not only concern sporting events but also "recreational" and "cultural" events, Amnesty International France (AIF) warns.
The rights group says that the use of these tools is an unnecessary infringement on human rights and privacy rights.
"While the fight against crime or terrorism is legitimate, it must however be framed and meet strict criteria of necessity and proportionality. However, the provision proposed by Article 7 does not meet these conditions," says Katia Roux, AIF's Technology and Human Rights Advocacy Manager.
"Thinking or knowing that they are being watched can also lead people to change their behavior or self-censor. The deterrent effect of such surveillance of public space therefore also entails a risk of infringing the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," Amnesty says in a statement on Tuesday.
"The exception therefore risks becoming the norm in a context of the very clear desire of the French authorities to broaden their power of surveillance. The Olympic Games should not be used as a pretext to facilitate the establishment of a permanent state of exception," affirms Katia Roux.
Disproportionate attack
Meanwhile, Socialist Party senators have tabled an amendment to bring forward the end date after the Paralympic Games to 30 September, 2024, to take stock of the measures.
The Communist party (PC) has also tabled an amendment which states: "There is a disproportionate attack on the protection of privacy, as well as other fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the freedom to come and go and freedom of opinion and demonstration".
For PS Senator Jean-Jacques Lozach, this text "requires vigilance" because part of the measures will be permanent
"We should not fall into a security escalation," he also warns, fearing that the subject of facial recognition will come back to the fore despite government assuring the contrary.
The initial text was already amended by the government after the the national commission for information technology and freedoms (CNIL) and the Council of State raised their concerns.
"These new video tools can lead to massive processing of personal data, sometimes including sensitive data," the CNIL warned in a general notice in July 2022.
Anti-Doping tests
Another delicate subject being debated is the possibility of genetic testing in order to comply with world anti-doping standards.
The most invasive genetic tests, with "coding DNA", aimed at verifying that there is no genetic doping would be in used in an "experimentation" phase.
While genetic fingerprinting type tests, to verify that there has been no transfusion or substitution of sample, will be authorised without experimentation, according to the bill's author Agnès Canayer.
The CNIL has also put forward its concerns calling for lawmakers "to specify the procedures for informing and obtaining the athlete's consent".
The Olympic bill also reinforces sanctions in the event of intrusion into a sports arena and also provides for the opening of shops on Sundays during the Games.
The Ministers of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, have brushed off the criticisms of the text as "minor" or "technical" and will continue to defend the 19 articles presented so far.
But senators, meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week have some hundred amendments to take into consideration. A vote is scheduled for 31 January.
