French Prime Minister Rules Out Ban On Public WiFi

Last week and following the attacks in Paris, France, a leaked document from the French police revealed some potential changes that they would like to see the government make. A couple of those changes include the ban of the Tor network and also the banning of public WiFi during emergencies.

The idea is that because Tor allows users to operate with anonymity, and because public WiFi facilitates communication, the removal of these tools will presumably prevent terrorists from communicating with each other to coordinate their attacks. While those are valid suggestions, there have also been critics of the alleged proposal, but according to new reports, it looks like neither of these changes will be made.

The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls recently stated that there will not be any ban on public WiFi, and neither was he in favor of banning the Tor network. In fact he goes on to state that he has no knowledge of the French police requesting for the power to ask developers for backdoor access to the likes of Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber in order to better monitor the people in France.

Valls also stated that the “Internet is a freedom, is an extraordinary means of communication between people, it is a benefit to the economy.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Legal, Security, WiFi