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France clears final hurdle to expanding its spying power

A law that gives French intelligence services sweeping new spying abilities has cleared a final hurdle after France’s Constitutional Council widely approved the legislation.

PARIS — A law that gives French intelligence services sweeping new spying abilities has cleared a final hurdle after France’s Constitutional Council widely approved the legislation.

In a ruling published late Thursday, the council said it had struck down only a handful of unconstitutional provisions in the law, which gives French spying agencies the power to use phone taps, set up hidden cameras or microphones, and conduct bulk analysis of metadata, with almost no judicial oversight.