Off the wire
• Unasur chief calls for concrete steps towards regional integration  • Genetic engineering should not be banned: German expert  • U.S. authorizes ferry service to Cuba  • Sarkozy's UMP political bureau votes in favor of new name Les Republicains  • Results of Czech ice hockey world championship  • Humanitarian relief, reconstruction key to next stage of Nepal recovery: UN agencies  • China committed to reaching Paris climate agreement: Chinese scholar  • Security, political stability key to Lebanon's economy: PM  • Commentary: UN mourns war victims to avoid future tragedy in world  • U.S. space agency chief confident of putting Americans on Mars in 2030s  
You are here: 　 Home

French National Assembly voted in favor of controversial bill on surveillance

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

French lawmakers of the National Assembly passed Tuesday by 438 votes to 86 a controversial bill on expanding intelligence services' surveillance power.

The bill, aimed to "protect French from terrorist attacks", would give French intelligence services green light to collect unlimited electronic data from the Internet and phones and to install cameras and spying softwares.

"I am happy that a large majority was in favor of the bill on intelligence, which preserves our fundamental liberties, but supervises our intelligence services while giving them the means as efficient as possible to face terrorist threats," said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls to BFMTV.

According to Valls, the bill will also help fight against serious crimes and economic espionage.

However, the bill, defended by the prime minister as a measure to fight against terrorism, has raised concerns of a "mass surveillance" among the French.

This bill still needs examining by the Senate in June before officially legalized. Endit