PARIS, Sept 9: A new French security database that could track anyone deemed a “possible threat to public order” even minors as young as 13 has outraged privacy crusaders and put France’s conservative government on the defensive.

Critics have collected some 130,000 signatures against the database known by the acronym Edvige which they contend is better suited for a police state than a modern European democracy.

Le Parisien daily’s Tuesday edition quoted lawyer Jean-Marc Fedida as saying Edvige opens up “the possibility of tracking the entire population of France”.

Edvige replaces an obsolete 1991 database that helped France’s police surveillance agency track politicians, labour leaders and other activists anyone who resorted to violence or supported the use of violence.

But Edvige goes further, gathering personal information on health and sexual orientation, dropping the minimum age for surveillance from 18 to 13 and casting a wider net, allowing security officials to track anyone considered a “possible threat to public order”.

Defenders insist Edvige is a measured response to France’s changing security situation particularly after a rise in youth violence and nationwide riots in 2005. Judicial officials complain the new language defining how Edvige can be used is menacingly Orwellian.

“This police logic is that of a society that has come to consider all its youth .... as a threat,” Helene Franco of a magistrates’ union was quoted as saying in the Le Monde newspaper.

The clash over Edvige has spilled over into the government, with some ministers sounding alarm bells about possible civil liberties infringements.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie reached out to critics who say that tracking minors could have negative repercussions, saying on Tuesday that minors’ records could possibly be removed from the database after a time.—AP