French Court Rules Briefcam’s AI Surveillance System Illegal

A French administrative court has ruled that the deployment of Briefcam’s algorithmic video surveillance technology in Moirans, Isère is unlawful. The January 30, 2025 decision by the Grenoble administrative court comes after a three-year legal challenge by digital rights organization La Quadrature du Net, marking a significant setback for France’s expanding use of AI-powered surveillance systems.

The case originated in 2022 when La Quadrature du Net, which has previously challenged other French biometric initiatives, contested Moirans’ implementation of Briefcam’s AI-powered video analytics system. The technology, which has been demonstrated at major security industry events, automatically analyzed CCTV footage to detect behaviors such as loitering and unattended objects, flagging these incidents to local law enforcement.

The court identified multiple violations of privacy protections under both GDPR and France’s Internal Security Code. These included unauthorized biometric data processing through movement pattern analysis, failure to complete mandatory impact assessments, and insufficient public justification for the surveillance measures. The ruling is particularly significant as Briefcam’s technology has been widely adopted by law enforcement agencies and had previously received positive attention for its potential security applications.

The ruling invalidates legal frameworks that had permitted automated surveillance systems under temporary experimental authorizations related to the 2024 Paris Olympics. It also establishes legal precedent for ongoing challenges to algorithmic policing tools across France. The court specifically noted technical limitations of the surveillance AI, including frequent false positives that disproportionately affected homeless individuals, echoing concerns raised by privacy advocates about bias in automated surveillance systems.

This decision impacts Article 7 of the 2024 Olympic Security Law, which had aimed to legalize such surveillance systems through 2025. By rejecting Moirans’ public safety justification, the ruling creates obstacles for planned expansions of algorithmic surveillance in routine law enforcement. This follows a pattern of increased scrutiny of surveillance technologies in France, where senators have recently proposed stricter guidelines for facial recognition technology.

Source: La Quadrature du Net

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January 31, 2025 – by the ID Tech Editorial Team