One thing brought up in the article is that currently French surveillance services are basically working carte blanche, with absolutely no legal checks.

Le Monde had a set of articles about some of this surveillance framework brought to light by the Snowden leaks, but of course the French press didn't talk about it, since the NSA stories were somehow "more relevant to the public".

For all the fingerpointing at the US for the Patriot act and the NSA, France's surveillance state is pretty ominous and there are basically no rules.