‘French police want to be able to ban Tor and public hotspots’ – update

A French bill would make it possible to block use of the Tor network. In another proposal, the French government wants to curb the use of public Wi-Fi hotspots during a state of emergency. The legislation could be introduced as early as January 2016.

This would appear from two bills that the French newspaper Le Monde has seen. In a proposal on the state of emergency, the use of public and shared hotspots could be banned in such a situation, according to the American site Vice. The reason for this would be that, according to the police, it is difficult to trace individual users who use these networks.

Another proposal on counter-terrorism would also state that it should be possible to ban the use of Tor networks. The proposal does not describe how this will be done, the text only refers to legal and technical measures, but not what measures they should be. A branch of the French Ministry of the Interior that deals with civil liberties and legal affairs, the DLPAJ, questions the new bills as they could violate the constitution.

The Tor network offers users some protection by hiding the origin and destination of network traffic. The network is therefore popular with users who want to keep their identities secret for various reasons. There are countries that block or are considering blocking Tor, including Russia and China.

France has declared a state of emergency following the attacks in Paris. Initially for a few days, later the duration was extended by three months. Plans have been in the works for some time to extend the powers of the French government during a state of emergency.

Update, 14.05: Further reports show that the plans are not yet part of the bills. These are measures that the French police want to add to the proposals. The title of this post has therefore been changed.