France considers bans on Tor and public Wi-Fi in new security law

French police and security services present their shopping list of demands to 'tackle terrorism'

The French government is considering a draconian crackdown on public Wi-Fi and Tor among a shopping list of "emergency measures" in response to the Paris terrorist attacks last month.

The measures are part of a shopping list of demands from French police and security services to be included in an upcoming new security law. It follows the implementation of internet surveillance laws earlier this year that go even further than the British government's own proposals under the Investigatory Powers Bill.

The law would enable French authorities to ban the use of public Wi-Fi networks during a state of emergency, as they enable potential terrorists to communicate anonymously. France's police and security services also want action to outlaw the use of Tor, the encrypted web browser that enables people to use the internet anonymously.

The government could either make the use of Tor illegal, although policing such a law would be impossible, or it could outlaw or block Tor nodes on French soil - and possibly attempt to have such a law enforced across the European Union.

However, Tor is far from the only means to communicate over the internet using encryption, and the measures could go further.

The measures under consideration could be rushed into French law as soon as January, according to Le Monde. Other demands include "administrative police orders", which would enable French police to keep people in detention for up to 72 hours without charge.

France is currently under "emergency laws", which were recently extended by President Hollande, following a vote in Parliament, by three months. Under the emergency laws, which go back to the Algerian war of independence of the 1950s, authorities can arrest suspects on the grounds of "dangerous behaviour" and carry out searches without a warrant.

Websites and public places can be shut down by the authorities, curfews imposed, restrictions imposed on traffic and people, and public protest banned.

Earlier in 2015, "two decrees were issued in early 2015 outlining administrative measures for the blocking and de-indexing of websites for terrorist content. The decrees earned the ire of free speech advocates as the blacklist of websites is compiled by a police agency without court approval", according to Freedom House's Freedom on the Net report.

"An anti-terrorism law passed in November 2014 outlined harsh prison sentences for the broad offence of "apology for terrorism" through online speech (see Legal Environment), leading to several users being arrested, and some imprisoned," it continued.

Surveillance powers were extended in May 2015 in new laws rushed through after the Islamist attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, "requiring internet service providers to install devices to monitor users' 'suspicious behavior' and provide unfettered access to intelligence agencies", according to Freedom House.