Paris - A new set of laws drafted by French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie would allow police to monitor the computers of any person suspected of criminal activity, French media reported Wednesday. The monitoring of computers would be carried out with a "bug" placed within the computer - a procedure that would have to be approved by a judge - just like the surreptitious planting of microphones in a person's home or telephone to monitor his or her conversations.
If ultimately approved, the law would enable police to have access to all data on the computer as well as to record, store and pass them on.
Alliot-Marie presented the new law proposals on domestic security, named Lospi 2, to the French cabinet on Wednesday.
However, the so-called blogosphere has already been active in opposition to the proposal on computer monitoring, France Info radio reported.
Many bloggers charged that the law meant that "Big Brother" was on his way, a reference to the totalitarian authority in George Orwell's novel 1984.
