Our work

PEReN’s activity is organized according to three main methods:

partnership, through agreements with state services or independent authorities involved in the regulation of digital platforms;
experimentation, to build prototypes of regulatory tools on one’s own initiative;
research work, aimed at conducting public research work alone or in partnership within the meaning of article L. 112-1 of the research code.

It is within this framework of intervention that the PEReN develops its work program in close consultation with the partner administrations and organizes its activity into projects, according to an agile functioning.

Thus, in 2021, the first full year of operation, PEReN carried out 21 projects that contributed to:

offer technical solutions with a resource-sharing approach;
gain better insight into how platforms work;
prepare and support the definition of regulations.

Furnished holiday lettings

At the request of the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, PEReN carried out the testing phase for a portal allowing data to be exchanged (API and visualisation interface) between furnished holiday letting intermediaries, regional authorities and government departments.

Scraping publicly available data

With a view to sharing resources, an API for scraping publicly available data was provided to any partners with data scraping needs and the legal powers required.
→ Projects using the shareable asset:
Investigative powers of the Competition Authority PEReN provided technical support to the Competition Authority, within the scope of its investigative power, by providing the software code, processor time and an employee appointed as an external rapporteur (Article R.461-5 of the Commercial Code).

General terms of use (GTU) of digital platforms

In cooperation with the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, PEReN supported the development of the Open Terms Archive tool for recording changes to the GTU of digital platforms: development of the tool’s scope and features for handling complex formats.

Illustration du projet de suivi des CGUs

Monitoring mobility data

PEReN provided and tailored an API so that it can send requests to route planners and better understand how they work.

Activity of workers on mobility platforms

At the request of the ministries for the economy and the ecological transition, PEReN was involved in setting out the indicators relating to the period of employment and income earned by mobility platform workers (private hire vehicles, goods delivery), and in developing a tool for the collection and automated aggregation across platforms of published indicators.

Service quality of OTT flows

PEReN designed an experimental system to analyse how Android mobile apps operate under the device’s various realistic conditions of use such as geolocation, battery and network quality. ARCEP provided this proof of concept as part of a project to assess the service quality of instant messaging apps.

Google’s Privacy Sandbox

PEReN led a working group with all the government departments involved in the project (Ministries for culture and the economy, the Competition Authority, the CNIL, ARCOM), focused on the joint technical analysis of the upcoming Privacy Sandbox and on monitoring in this field (study available here: https://www.peren.gouv.fr/en/actualites/2022-04-28_eclairage_sur_privacy_sandbox/ ).

PEReN developed a prototype for a tool designed to visualise and anonymise personal data acquired by individuals within the context of the right to data portability set forth in the GDPR.

PEReN drew up a proof of concept on quantifying the added value of consent granted by users to enable cookies in various scenarios.

Illustration du projet de portabilité des données

Viral content detection and characterisation

At the request of the Ministry for Culture, PEReN launched a pilot study into the methods for identifying potentially problematic viral content based on the nature of its dissemination, as opposed to directly analysing the content or individuals involved.

Assessment of the prevalence of bots on Twitter

In cooperation with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, PEReN developed a prototype of a tool for detecting automated accounts (bots) based on the rigorous analysis of the metadata of accounts. With this tool, scaling up is possible, and no personal data needs to be used.

Illustration du projet d'études sur la viralité

Virality of sets of hashtags on Twitter

PEReN has established an operational scoreboard for monitoring sets of hashtags on Twitter to be used by VIGINUM, a technical and operational government department responsible for monitoring and protecting against foreign interference online.

Analysis of videos posted on YouTube channels and their consumption

PEReN conducted an exploratory study to address the needs of HADOPI (which is now ARCOM) to classify and quantify the content and categories available on YouTube across the French territory (study available here:https://www.peren.gouv.fr/revue-presse/2021-hadopi/).

Creation of an external analysis method for black box algorithms

PEReN developed a prototype for the external analysis performed by black box algorithms, a non-intrusive method that grants no access to the source code, model or data forming the AI system.

Analysis of content recommender algorithms

At the request of the Ministry for Culture, PEReN took stock of the possible methods to assess content recommender algorithms (A summary of the study is available here in French only: https://www.peren.gouv.fr/actualites/publication-etude-methodologie-audit-algorithmes-dgmic/ ).

Security issues arising from opening application stores

As part of the draft EU legislation the DMA, PEReN carried out, on behalf of the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, technical analysis of the security issues arising from opening operating systems to third-party application stores (A summary of the study is available here: https://www.peren.gouv.fr/en/actualites/2022-02-18_eclairage_sur_os/)

Technical insight into the interoperability of online services

In partnership with INRIA, PEReN produced an analysis on interoperability (features, scope, interconnection tools) as part of the Inter-Administration Taskforce on the DMA and DSA (A summary of the study is available here: https://www.peren.gouv.fr/en/actualites/2021-10-08_eclairage_sur_interoperabilite/).

EU digital regulation

PEReN provided technical support to teams from the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty overseeing the negotiations on draft EU legislation on digital regulation, namely the DMA and DSA.

EU harmonisation of AI regulation

PEReN offered technical assistance to teams from the Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty in establishing the French position on the draft EU regulation on AI.

Combating terrorist content online – the Christchurch Call and the GIFCT

At the request of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, PEReN represented the French authorities in plotting the Christchurch Call roadmap on algorithm assessment. PEReN was also a representative in a similar capacity within the technical group of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), assuming the role of governmental organisation coordinator.