LAWMAKERS APPROVE BILL ALLOWING FRENCH POLICE TO LOCATE SUSPECTS BY TAPPING THEIR DEVICES

French lawmakers on Tuesday adopted a sweeping justice reform bill that includes a provision to allow law enforcement agents to remotely tap into the cameras, microphones and location services of phones and other internet-connected devices of some suspected criminals.

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The measure plainly stipulates that the procedure can be executed “without the knowledge or consent of its owner or possessor” but is limited to suspects involved in terrorism, organized crime and other illegal activities punishable by five or more years in prison.

The language authorizing eavesdropping was contained in a broader reform bill aimed at “modernizing” penal procedures. Reflecting what polls indicate is a public demand for more law and order, the National Assembly, the lower house of the French Parliament, adopted two ambitious bills Tuesday that are aimed at bolstering the country’s creaky judicial system.

The Senate, controlled by the right, adopted both bills in May.

“The goal of this law is clear: a faster, clearer, modern justice,” French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said when he presented the reform legislation in the spring.

The package includes a budget increase that would boost spending on the judicial system by nearly 11 billion euros by 2027. Before taking going into law, the bills must go to special commission to iron out any differences between the two chambers of Parliament.

Still, President Emmanuel Macron stands to gain from their passage amid a crisis that has gnawed at the fabric of French society.

The National Assembly passed the bill presented as the justice minister’s “action plan” on a 388111 vote, with 45 abstentions. Lawmakers on the left and digital rights activists criticized the eavesdropping provision as an invasion of privacy.