The government’s new digital bill aimed largely at stopping, or in any case limiting, online, email or SMS scams, was presented this Wednesday, May 10 in the Council of Ministers. Examined by this summer in Parliament for a possible implementation at the end of the year, what does this text contain?
In order to prevent the French from suffering online scams and to “secure and regulate the digital space”, the Minister for the Digital Transition Jean-Noël Barrot wishes to set up an anti-scam filter. This filter will consist of alerting Internet users that they are on the page of a fraudulent site. “This simple and free device will warn the Internet user when he is about to connect to a site identified as malicious. It will take the form of a message which will be interposed between the Internet user and the site to avoid Being trapped.” The Minister explains to us. A measure that could reassure users, but above all avoid most of the scams that take place online. Indeed, questioned by the Journal Du Dimanche, Jean-Noël Barrot explains to us “that one in two French people has been the victim of an attempted scam on the Internet”.
Other measures are part of this bill. Indeed, this text will also make it possible to punish Internet users making illegal comments on the web, identity thieves, as well as cyberstalkers. Even if on some platforms it is already possible to have the accounts of problematic users suspended, it is quite difficult to do so. It usually takes several complaints before the social network closes their profile. Conversely, if this law comes into force, it will be much easier to suspend them. “It is a kind of public cybersecurity service for all, and which protects in particular the French people furthest from digital”, specifies the ministry for the digital transition.
Another measure would be to block pornographic sites for minors. Today anyone can access these websites by clicking on the button that certifies the majority. The implementation of more complete procedures in order to verify the age of the user had been requested from them. Nevertheless, it has not, for most of these sites, been respected. The digital bill then proposes to remove the bailiff’s report before the notification of a pornographic site, as well as the passage by a judge to obtain a blocking of the platform.
The strengthening of the fight against child pornography content, the control of illegal tourist rentals, as well as the blocking of propaganda media on the Internet and the fight against commercial abuse in the cloud sector, are also part of the reforms that the Minister for the Digital Transition via this bill.