France / “Olympic celebration” under surveillance with Artificial Intelligence

A hundred days or so before the “big celebration” of the Olympic Games in Paris and the government, beyond the organizational aspect, is also unfolding a dark agenda, which includes the gentrification / exclusion of various groups of citizens of the French capital, as well as drastic and massive surveillance of citizens, with the help of Artificial Intelligence. An extremely negative development, which civic organizations and parties of the Left believe is here to stay even after the games.

The Parliament has already voted, with the support of the Far Right, an article in the framework of the law for the Olympic Games, with the object of “algorithmic video surveillance” with recognition of persons based on digital image processing. And this despite the opposition of 38 civil society organizations, including Amnesty International. “France’s decision to allow mass surveillance during the Olympics undermines the EU’s ongoing efforts to set a legislative framework for Artificial Intelligence and to protect fundamental rights through the AI ​​Act.”

A warning ignored by the 400 MPs – apart from the government camp, technologically upgraded mass surveillance was voted for by the Right and the Far Right. Opposite were the Left and the Environmentalists, who either voted against or abstained. Criticisms were brought together by Article 7 of the law, which allows, experimentally until the end of the year (instead of June 2025, as was the original version), to combine video surveillance with “algorithmic processing” during “sports, entertainment or cultural events events”. That is, by using T.N. to detect suspicious behavior – the type of which will be defined by decree – during major events likely to cause terrorist acts or serious attacks against security.

The red line and the support of the Far Right

“The experimentation of algorithmic video surveillance is a red line,” emphasized CCP MP Stephan Pe, denouncing “the recourse to this technology which, no doubt, will be perpetuated even after the games, with another, the most, security law” “. “We have never been able to find out what this algorithm is,” criticized, from the Socialist Party’s side, Roger Vico. Socialists and Communists abstained, while France Insubordinate and the Greens voted against the bill on general Olympic issues. “With the support of the Far Right, you propose that the country acquire the means to monitor on the basis of biometric analyzes those people you choose. And of course, this way things will be done faster when you are looking for the members of the Earth Rebellions” (an ecological organization that has targeted the Ministry of the Interior and threatens to dissolve), commented the green Sandra Regol emphatically, even paraphrasing the well-known saying of Olympics: “Faster in suppression, higher in discredit and stronger in generalized surveillance of the population.” Denouncing the “obsession with technocratic solutions” at the expense of law and freedoms. “Algorithmic video surveillance is dangerous, it violates our fundamental freedoms, those of movement, respect for our private life, the peaceful expression of an opinion” commented, from the side of France Insubordinate, Eliza Marten, referring to the critical positions of organizations such as Amnesty International, the League of Human Rights, the Supreme Council of Lawyers, but also in the announcement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which criticized the French monitoring mechanism.

Under the guise of the Olympics, the all-seeing state

The icing on the cake was that in article 7, that of algorithmic video surveillance, an amendment was submitted that was co-signed for the first time by the deputies of the National Alarm and one belonging to the centrist Modem, part of the governing majority. The amendment was voted in favor of promoting the selection of European companies for the implementation of the surveillance “solutions” of the era of Artificial Intelligence.

Criticisms from the Left, however, included other measures, which were added to the general environment of repression, the violence in the demonstrations against the reform of the pension system or in the protests of ecological organizations. Measures such as body scanners, extending the possibility of administrative investigation, restricting political expressions at matches or creating new offenses – such as, for example, banning illegal entry into a sports venue or occupying match grounds. “Once again we are sounding the alarm bell regarding the construction of measures related to fandom,” stressed the communist MP Stephan Pe, denouncing the absence of any kind of consultation and the reinforcement “for the umpteenth time of the repressive arsenal.” “The Olympics cannot be the pretext for a purely security approach,” Eliza Marten warned of an all-seeing state. In the ears of those who don’t listen…