The National Assembly of France has voted in favor of a bill that would penalize smartphone makers such as Apple who refuse to cooperate with terrorism inquiries, The Guardian reports. The move, which goes against the wishes of the French government, took the form of an amendment to a penal reform bill related to the end of the state of emergency which has been in place in France since last fall’s Paris terrorist attacks. The state of emergency is expected to be lifted in May. The amendment stipulates a private company that refuses to hand over encrypted data to any investigating authority could face a €350,000 fine ($385,000), and up five years in jail for those deemed liable. The French government has shown a reluctance to take on large phone companies in this manner, leading the report to speculate whether the amendment will actually make it through the remaining and lengthy parliamentary process, which would include a vote and possible amendment by the French Senate, possible constitutional review, and additional commissions.
French National Assembly votes to penalize smartphone makers
Jesse Hollington
Jesse Hollington was a Senior Editor at iLounge. He's written about Apple technology for nearly a decade and had been covering the industry since the early days of iLounge. In his role at iLounge, he provided daily news coverage, wrote and edited features and reviews, and was responsible for the overall quality of the site's content.