The massive database, known as Secure Electronic Documents (Titres électroniques sécurisés or TES), was decreed by the government on October 30 in an effort to crack down on identity theft.

The move sparked immediate outrage in the French media, with weekly magazine L'Observateur describing it as "terrifying", and daily newspaper Libération calling it a "mega database that will do no good".

The TES will affect 60 million people and marks the first time the country has collected population data on such a scale since the start of the Nazi Occupation in 1940.

The database will include all the same information included on a French identity card or passport, depending on which a person holds: The first and last names, address, eye colour, weight, marital status, a photograph and the fingerprints of nearly everyone in France (with the exception of children under the age of 12) will be compiled into a single centralised system.