Just days after the re-election of President Emmanuel Macron, the French government has announced the creation of a new digital ID app that will give citizens access to both public and private services.
The biometric app, known as the “Digital Identity Guarantee Service,” has signed a decree issued by Prime Minister Jean Castex and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. Translated statement It was posted on the website of the French government. This will allow French citizens to use digital ID cards. It is also compliant with the European Union’s European Digital ID Package.
This allows users to scan the physical identity card used to access the service. according to To the French outlet BFMTV. The digital ID app does not record fingerprints, but it does include details such as photos, email addresses, addresses, dates of birth, and names.
According to French government legislation, the app “in particular allows you to generate a digital certificate that contains only the ID attributes that you think you need to send to a third party of your choice.”
The government has released details of the decree, but it is not clear how widely the app will be used throughout French society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, France was one of the first European countries to adopt a vaccine passport system, affecting restaurants, salons, and several forms of public transport.
When the decree was signed this week, Florian Philippot, the leader of the Les Patriots, called on French voters to resist the bill. Philip said the move was equivalent to the Social Credit system that the Chinese Communist Party is using to track and punish people.
“Immediately after the election, the government announced the launch of a’digital ID application’,” he says. I have written On Twitter. “The goal is to put social credibility in the Chinese way. Control and monitoring company!
Digital ID critics including American Civil Liberties UnionStates that such a proposal would significantly impair user privacy.
“Second, poorly constructed digital identity systems can be a privacy nightmare. Such systems make it easy to request people’s identities, so they are identifiable in all situations, including online. These demands will skyrocket until you automatically share. Without good privacy protection, digital IDs can enable centralized tracking wherever you present your ID (again online and off). There is sex, “ACLU said in a statement last year.
Meanwhile, French voters will head back to polls in June for parliamentary elections where Macron may face the risk of losing a majority.
The European Union plans to introduce digital ID applications in 2022. statement Last year, from President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission.
“This will allow everyone to manage their identities online and interact with governments and businesses throughout the EU,” said Von der Leyen.
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Jack Phillips is the latest news reporter for The Epoch Times, based in New York.