Post-apocalyptic future envisioned for 1984 film The Terminator.Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.Agne Pix (AP): We met to talk about an open and neutral Internet, however, recent tragic events have dramatically changed the context of our conversation. Tell me about the situation from your perspective as a civil liberties hacktivist and a Parisian. After the carnage in the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 there were certain security measures taken. Why did they not prevent another terrorist attack in Paris?
Jérémie Zimmermann (JZ): In the last year and a half, four security laws have been adopted in France in the name of combating terrorism. Now would be the right time to question their efficiency.
Things did not start with Charlie Hebdo: in the last 15 years about fifteen other bills were adopted which closely followed the example of the US and some other European countries after 9/11. The most recent law, prolonging the state of emergency to three months and even renewable for longer, is the most striking because it coincides with the collective emotional shock and disorientation of French society as a whole after November 13. This state of emergency was adopted in an extremely rushed procedure, almost overnight, with no room for debate, so that one might surmise that most of the MPs did not have time to read the bill they voted for. It seems as if the political process has been poisoned by the intelligence agencies, who are given more power with less accountability requested every time they fail, so that this efficiency cannot even be assessed properly. We are in a downwards spiral, where policies that are driven by fear undermine the rule of law and fundamental rights, in favour of an illusion of more security.
