"The surveillance measures authorized by this law are wildly out of proportion," Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement after its passing last year. "Large swathes of France’s population could soon find themselves under surveillance on obscure grounds and without prior judicial approval."
"The US and UK security agency's’ mass surveillance was denounced globally," van Gulik added, "yet French authorities appear to want to mimic their American and British counterparts in allowing the authorities to intercept and access people’s communications at will."
The groups who filed the complaint were happy with the council’s decision, saying that the law as it stood “deprived intelligence services of a legal cover unleashing all kinds of illegal surveillance measures,” and that “this is an encouragement to keep fighting for the protection of freedoms and the rule of law,” CSO reported.
While the ruling does not immediately strike down the law, it gives the government one year to pass a new, less intrusive policy to take its place and make the operation constitutional.
The complainants, while pleased that the law was ruled unconstitutional, have expressed discontent with the council’s decision to grant the government one year to fix the issue, calling it “unfortunate.”
