Secretary of State for Digital Cédric O called Tuesday, February 25, for a limited experimentation with facial recognition in France, to prevent it from finally imposing itself brutally and without debate in favor of a crisis.
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" What history shows is that when there is technology available, in the end you end up using it, " said the Secretary of State during the presentation of the confidence barometer of Acsel, a professional association for the digital economy. The risk is "that one day there will be an attack in France, and that a government will decide to go there overnight, " he said.
Public debate to avoid " the Chinese example "
It is better to organize now a " phase of experimentation in various use cases, and then to have a public debate and take decisions ", in particular on the possible " red lines " that should not be crossed, a he indicated. France " will never go to the Chinese example " where facial recognition algorithms " make it possible to recognize everyone on the street everywhere ", affirmed Cédric O. But " there are opportunities for facial recognition in the health, private use, public order and security, "he said, calling for a" social debate like, for example, that of bioethics laws ".
Experimentation is necessary to get accurate information about the potential of these technologies, he said. " As Secretary of State for Digital, I don't know if facial recognition is effective in recognizing people on the public highway, I have no idea, " he said. " I have read the studies " of major American universities on the subject, but " I think we have to make our own opinion according to scientific protocols which must be public, " he added.
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