France will use surveillance cameras with algorithms at the Paris games

The French parliament has definitively adopted a law on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games that envisages the use, initially on an experimental basis, of surveillance cameras powered by algorithms, theoretically to quickly detect risky situations. The Ministry of Sports defended itself in a press release shortly after that parliamentary approval. this controversial device insisting that this will be done under conditions of use “strictly regulated and in a limited experimental framework until March 31, 2025.”

In addition, at the end of 2024, with the experience of its use at the Olympic and Paralympic Games during the summer of that year, an evaluation will be made. The goal, according to the Department of Sports, is “faster detection of serious risks using image processing with algorithms.” It is also about “creating flow controls at the entrances to competition and celebration centers and better coordination of the teams mobilized to ensure traffic.”

The idea is that the algorithms built into the programs for using surveillance cameras, thanks to the experiences of past episodes, enable law enforcement to be warned as quickly as possible about phenomena such as, for example, crowd movements or abandoned luggage.

The government, considering the signs of concern of the members of parliament from the left opposition, insisted in its defense that facial recognition programs will not be used, as is widely done in China for population control. Experimentation could begin after the text of the law is announced, for example during the Rugby World Cup that France is organizing this fall.

The Ministry of Sports pointed out that the law will enable “more prevention and punishment” violence and hooligan acts in sporting events, with “more systematic recourse” to stadium bans issued by the courts and increased penalties for those who break into the competition area.

Some protocols that take on a special resonance when you remember them the fiasco of organizing the Champions League final at the end of May last year, which Real Madrid and Liverpool played at the Stade de France, on the northern outskirts of Paris.

The fiasco was marked by accusations of fraud initially brought by the French authorities, directed specifically against English fans, to explain the chaos around the stadium and the actions of law enforcement against fans, many of whom were actually victims of large-scale robberies and violence by local criminals.