The legal landscape surrounding data encryption sits at the centre of the concerns of Socialist MP Yann Galut, who is tabling an amendment today to close what he sees as a legal gap and to force technology giants such as Apple and Google to cooperate fully with the courts. In an interview given to Le Parisien/Aujourd'hui en France, he sets out the details of a proposal that would impose a fine of one million euros on any company refusing to comply.
According to the MP for the Cher, the measure is meant to remove the obstacles that encrypted data now place in the path of criminal investigations. The amendment would impose a substantial penalty on companies that fail to respond quickly to judicial requisitions, on the reasoning that the giants of the sector such as Apple and Google can realistically be pressured only through their finances.
Galut is severe towards what he describes as the "complete bad faith" of Apple and Google, and he rejects the privacy argument the two companies put forward, accusing them of exploiting personal data commercially while refusing to work with the justice system. In 2015, according to the newspaper, eight telephones remained inaccessible to French criminal investigators during terrorism inquiries.
The large technology companies, defending the improved security of their products and the inviolability of their applications, consider that this protection is what keeps consumer trust intact. The authorities take the opposite view and warn that phones nobody can open could just as easily serve criminals and jihadists.
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