French Prime Minister: No ban on public hotspots during state of emergency

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says there will be no ban on the use of public hotspots during a state of emergency. It was recently announced that the French police wanted to add this power to two bills.

Last week, Le Monde newspaper leaked a proposal showing that French police wanted powers to restrict the use of public hotspots in a state of emergency and ban communications over the Tor network. The reason for this was that the police would have difficulty in tracing people who use these techniques.

The prime minister now tells BFM TV that although terrorists communicate through these avenues and spread their ideology, effective measures must be taken. ‘Blocking public hotspots is currently not the appropriate route’, he adds. In the conversation, the interviewer himself also talks about the blockage of the Tor network, but the Prime Minister does not explicitly discuss this. It is therefore not possible to say with certainty whether these plans have also been scrapped.

According to BFM TV, the Prime Minister’s words also do not mean that all similar plans by the French government are off the table, citing the example that taxis and internet cafes should register customers.