French government says users of uBlock Origin, Signal etc. are potential terrorists

the critical attitude towards technologies, and in particular to Big Tech (Google, Amazon, Facebook Apple and Microsoft, GAFAM), is considered as a sign of radicalisation. Among the questions asked to the defendants, one can read: Are you anti-GAFA?”, “What do you think of GAFA?” or “Do you feel a certain reserve towards communication technologies?”.
These questions are to be read in light of one report from the DGSI titled “The ultra-left movement”, which states that “members” of this movement are alledgedly showing “a great culture of secrecy […] and a certain reserve towards technology”.

As we conclude this article, the mood is dark. It is totally outrageous how people’s digital practices are being used in the present affair.

We are facing the fantasy of a State demanding total transparency from everyone at the risk of being called a “suspect”, a State whose desire for widespread surveillance seems limitless. In this context, we reaffirm our rights to privacy, intimacy and the protection of our personal data. Encryption is, and will remain, an essential element of our civil liberties in the digital age.

This case is a trial for the Ministry of Interior, which aims to normalise this framing for repressive purposes. During a Senate hearing that followed the violent repression of protests in Sainte-Soline [environmental protests severely repressed that happened in France in 2023], Gérald Darmanin, the French Minister of Interior, implored the legislature to change the law so that it would be possible to hack into demonstrators’ mobile phones, especially those using “Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram”: “Give us the same means for extreme violence as for terrorism”. His justification was that “there is a very strong, advanced paranoia in ultra-left circles […] who use encrypted messaging”, which can be explained by a “clandestine culture”. In an attempt to demonstrate the supposed violence of Sainte-Soline activists, he also cited the 8 December affair as an example of a “foiled attack” by the “ultra-left”, in defiance of any presumption of innocence.

This is how the criminalisation of digital practices fits in with the French government’s strategy of repressing all social protests. Reaffirming the right to encryption therefore means opposing the authoritarian abuses of the government that seeks to endlessly extend the scope of “counter-terrorism” policies by designating an ever-growing number of domestic enemies. After the repression of Muslims, now it’s the turn of “eco-terrorists”, “intellectual terrorists” and finally, geeks armed with encrypted messaging systems. Faced with such a situation, the only question left seems to be: “And you, what kind of terrorist are you?