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Bruce Schneier published:
French Police Will Be Able to Spy on People through Their Cell Phones
The French police are getting new surveillance powers:
French police should be able to spy on suspects by remotely activating the camera, microphone and GPS of their phones and other devices, lawmakers agreed late on Wednesday, July 5.
[...]
Covering laptops, cars and other connected objects as well as phones, the measure would allow the geolocation of suspects in crimes punishable by at least five years' jail. Devices could also be remotely activated to record sound and images of people suspected of terror offenses, as well as delinquency and organized crime.
[...]
During a debate on Wednesday, MPs in President Emmanuel Macron's camp inserted an amendment limiting the use of remote spying to "when justified by the nature and seriousness of the crime" and "for a strictly proportional duration." Any use of the provision must be approved by a judge, while the total duration of the surveillance cannot exceed six months. And sensitive professions including doctors, journalists, lawyers, judges and MPs would not be legitimate targets.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday July 17, @11:24AM
This isn't all that strange. France, and Netherlands, was the leading force behind the Encrochat bust. So one would assume they have the required experience and they liked what they found and how they got there. So that they just want to generalize it and take it to the next level seems fairly straight forward in that regard. Some kind of lawenforcement malware that you can install on criminals phones and then enjoy all the evidence dropping in all by itself.
With that in mind I think I have seen suggestions of similar things from other LEO:s in Europe, or suggestions of doing the same thing. I don't think they are all going to reinvent the wheel so they are probably this time to hoping for France to take the lead and if it turns out great they'll all be invited in to take part and share just like last time. It will turn into a joint effort eventually. After all crime is a cross-border business so eventually they'll have to talk to others one way or another.
That said with the previous encrypted phone busts and infiltration one would assume criminals have learned their lesson, or not, and gone back to more face to face meetings again. But that just isn't practical all the time.