MPs Philippe Gosselin (LR) and Philippe Latombe (Modem) believe that France should authorize the police to use facial recognition, under certain conditions, in a parliamentary report unveiled on Wednesday April 12.
The two rapporteurs of this fact-finding mission launched in September 2022 on the use of "
security images
" in the public domain carried out their work with a view in particular to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and "
the rise in power of the 'artificial intelligence
'.
41 recommendations
At the end of their hearings, they make 41 recommendations and call on France, which "does not
currently have an appropriate legal framework to experiment with biometric recognition solutions
" to "
quickly legislate to anticipate the needs of the years to come
" .
.
In particular, they propose to “
set up an experimental framework to test biometric recognition solutions in the judicial context, to find an individual a posteriori
”.
They also call for authorizing "
for certain cases of extreme urgency or sensitive research, the use of facial recognition software
" by law enforcement and intelligence "
for a limited time
" and "
under the control of the 'judicial authority
'.
Call for an 'overhaul' of the rules
According to their proposal, the use of facial recognition would be authorized in three cases: to find the suspect of a terrorist act or one that harms the fundamental interests of the nation;
in the fight against organized crime;
and for the search for a minor or his abductor in the context of a “
kidnapping alert
”.
However, parliamentarians say they are opposed to the deployment of “
real-time remote identification devices in public places in a permanent and general way
” and do not want facial recognition to be used for maintaining order either.
More generally, they call for a “
global overhaul
” of the rules applicable to the various image capture devices, the current legal framework being, according to them, “
sparse and difficult to read
”.
They recommend in particular to "
harmonise
" the retention period of images, by setting it at 30 days, "
regardless of the capture vector used
".
They also call for "
continuing reflection to extend the retention period
" of the images, stating that their mission has highlighted "
difficulties " linked to a "
too short
" retention period
, which "
can cause loss of chance for crime victims
.
