It is an advanced facial recognition technology that allows “to detect, track, extract, classify, catalog” a person with their facial features. This is the description given by the Briefcam websitean Israeli company which developed powerful facial recognition software, “Video Synopsis”, and used by the French police, according to an investigation by Disclosed.
However, the use of this type of software occurs outside of any legal framework.
Defended by Gérald Darmanin in his bill “relating to the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games”, the use of facial recognition for security reasons was rejected by parliament last March. Even if it had been voted on, the police have been equipped with Israeli software since 2015, according to the investigative media.
No impact study, the CNIL not aware
Initially, in 2015, it was tested in Seine-et-Marne by the departmental public security directorate (DDSP), to be extended in 2017 to the police services of four departments. Finally, the judicial police services, the police headquarters of Paris and Marseille, public security and the national gendarmerie are all equipped with Briefcam software, says Disclose.
However, in May 2023, the General Directorate of the National Police (DGPN) under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior had still not carried out the impact study of such a tool, “any more than it did not notify the CNIL,” reveals Disclose. The CNIL (National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties) is the watchdog responsible for the personal data of the French. “Some services have the Briefcam tool, but as this has not been declared to the CNIL, it seems preferable not to talk about it,” a police executive even told Disclose.