The government presented this Wednesday, May 10, 2023 its bill on security in the digital space. We take stock together of the various measures it contains, between anti-scam filter, banishment of cyberstalkers and blocking of pornographic sites for minors.
This Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the Council of Ministers has a very specific agenda: the presentation by Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for the Digital Transition, of the new government bill on security in the digital space.
With this text, the objective is both simple to formulate, but particularly complex to achieve: secure and regulate the Internet. According to the politician, this is a “combat text aimed at establishing new protections and which comes to protect our fellow citizens, our children, our businesses and our democracy”.
Transpose European directives into French law
In fact, this bill was mainly designed to transpose into French law the latest European regulations in force on digital technology, in particular the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The main purpose of these measures is to put an end to the abuses of GAFAM, whether on free competition or on the protection and use of the personal data of European users.
In addition, the text also seeks to introduce measures and strengthen some of them which so far have not borne fruit. One thinks in particular of the famous blocking by ISPs of access to pornographic sites that do not offer an age verification system. The government is implementing all of these measures by mid-2024, right for the start of the Paris Olympics. But exactly, what are they?
The anti-scam filter to put an end to phishing
We start first with the anti-scam filter, a device promised by Emmanuel Macron during his presidential campaign. The idea here is to proposea bulwark against fake SMS campaigns that affect us all”, explains Jean-Noël Barrot. In recent years, phishing campaigns have multiplied. We think in particular of these scams around the CPF of course, or even the Crit’Air sticker, the fuel allowance or the vital card.
Via the anti-scam filter, the government wants to alert Internet users to the presence of a fraudulent place in an email or an SMS via a warning message displayed directly on your web browser or via your ISP on your smartphone. Malicious sites that may be behind these scams will be blacklisted.
Moreover, this blacklist, which will be updated according to reports from Internet users and the authorities, will be managed by a manager attached to the CNIL. This filter will first enter a test period around September 2024, before being deployed in the final version before the Olympics.
Expand Arcom’s arsenal to block pornographic sites
As you may know, it’s been years now since the government went to war against porn sites that don’t have an effective system in place to prevent access by minors. With this bill, the Ministry of Digital Transition wants to strengthen the law of July 2020, which for the moment is struggling to bear fruit.
At present, if ARCOM reports a pornographic site at fault, it is necessary to obtain the approval of a judge to order the blocking by the ISPs. In fact, the idea here is to strengthen ARCOM’s prerogatives in order to shorten the procedure. Through this bill, the web policeman will therefore be able to do without a court decision to block, defer and pronounce almonds against infringing adult sites in just a few weeks.
Note that the bill does not yet propose a definitive mechanism for controlling age. On this point, the government says it is working on a solution centered on double anonymitywhich would go through trusted third-party services to ensure the age of visitors (via a digital certificate in particular).
Let us also specify that social networks will also have to introduce an age verification protocol effective. Twitter, TikTok or even Snapchat are in the line of sight of the government. Recent reports have proven the detrimental effect of TikTok on the mental health of children, who can notably come across content advocating anorexia or suicide. We also remember the shortcomings of Snapchat’s AI which encouraged pedophile relationships.
The banishment of cyberbullies
We also note among the other key measures the banishment of cyberbullies found guilty of the following offences:
- sexual, marital, moral, group and school harassment
- dissemination of violent images
- repression of sexual orientation or gender identity
- pimping
- child pornography
- apology for terrorism
- apology for war crimes against humanity or slavery
- incitement to hatred because of a person’s origin, religion, gender, disability
- Holocaust denial
Thanks to this additional sanction, defendants will no longer be able to access their account on the platform where the aforementioned offenses were committed. Please note that this ban (valid for six months or a year in the event of a repeat offence) is in addition to any prison sentences and fines imposed by the courts. In addition, the government is also working on mechanisms with platforms to prevent convicts from creating new accounts.