French police will again be permitted to use drones for surveillance and certain other law enforcement purposes, the nation’s constitutional authority has ruled, ending the nearly two-year legal ban of that activity on grounds it posed privacy violation risks.
France’s highest legal body, le Conseil Constitutionnel, signed off on the legality of most of a bill passed by parliament last month seeking to again permit French police to use drones for crowd monitoring, surveillance, and other enforcement activity. That use had become the government’s obsession – and a matter of no little public opposition – since previous legislation allowing cops to use UAVs and video taken by the craft in enforcement was blocked by other state bodies. Central to those prohibitions were complaints the law was too vague and patchy, and thus failed to ensure people’s constitutional rights to privacy were observed.
The gutting of those texts drew cheers from large sections…
