The tweet stayed for two days before disappearing. In this post, Bas-Rhin National Police launched an appeal for witnesses “in the context of the urban violence committed in Strasbourg”. “Do you have images or information likely to guide the work of the investigators? “, it was written. Nothing unusual so far, up to the proposed email address: “[email protected]”. Either a messaging service offered by Google, far from the classic and very [email protected].
An error on the part of the Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) of Bas-Rhin? Joined by 20 minutes, the DDSP67 explains that it made this choice “because files that are quite large often do not reach us. We have extremely strict filters and it does not pass. »
She also explained it in a new tweet posted at the beginning of the afternoon, replacing the previous one: “PCs that are too heavy can be rejected by our system. In this case let us know. “A message that has, once again, not escaped some Internet users.
“It’s one of the exceptions”
But was the DDSP67 at fault in terms of data protection by offering a Gmail address? “The detection of criminal offenses is excluded from the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is one of the exceptions, ”answers Jérôme Deroulez. This lawyer at the Paris bar specializing in the issue nevertheless recognizes that the police “could have had recourse to more French and more secure solutions”.
On Twitter, Guillaume Champeau, who holds the position of legal and public affairs director and founder of the computer and digital news website Numerama, was outraged and warned: “It is opening the door to false calls for witnesses which get passed by the police with a simple Gmail! “This kind of call for witnesses, with an unofficial email address, “can help with the confusion”, underlines Jérôme Deroulez. A point shared by the DDSP 67 which therefore returned to a more classic solution.