Recording police in public is allowed

In France, police officers and gendarmes on duty cannot oppose being recorded in public spaces, as established by a 2008 circular from the Ministry of the Interior and confirmed by the Defender of Rights in 2020. This means that filming law enforcement in public is a legal right, though the act of publishing the recording must comply with certain legal standards.

Publishing recordings may have legal consequences

Article 223-1-1 of the Penal Code imposes a penalty of up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros for disseminating information that could expose someone to a direct risk of harm. If the person is a public authority representative, the penalty increases to 5 years and 75,000 euros. In 2021, the Constitutional Council criticized the Global Security Act for its unclear wording regarding incitement to identify police officers.

Publishing police interventions is legitimate

The Defender of Rights has stated that publishing images of police interventions, even with blurred faces, is legitimate and necessary in a democratic society. However, blurring faces is a precautionary measure to avoid being subjected to intent trials. While there is no legal requirement to blur police officers, blurring protesters is advised to prevent their identification through facial recognition in the TAJ database.

Tools exist to blur faces in videos and photos

A free web application called Masque, developed by the onestla.tech collective, allows users to upload photos or videos and automatically blur faces. It processes data in the browser, offers offline use, and removes metadata such as GPS and creation dates. It also provides options to delete sound or modify voices to protect anonymity.

Other tools support blurring on different platforms

Another tool, deface, is a command-line utility available for Linux, Windows, and macOS that detects and blurs faces in videos. It removes audio by default and lacks a graphical interface. For photos, the Signal app has a built-in blurring tool for Android and iOS, with local processing and manual adjustments for missed faces.

Legal risks exist for unaltered recordings

Publishing videos without blurring can lead to legal consequences, including up to 5 years in prison under Article 222-33-3 for disseminating images of violence. Users are advised to keep the original, unaltered video in a secure location, as devices may automatically upload recordings to the cloud. While various tools exist to anonymize content, users must ensure thorough protection of identities through both blurring and other measures.