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In France, Only Journalists Can Film Violence

BostonBTS sends word that the French Constitutional Council has just made it illegal to film violence unless you are a professional journalist (or to distribute a video containing violence). The law was approved exactly 16 years after amateur videographer George Holliday filmed Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King. The Council was tidying up a body of law about offenses against the public order, and wanted to ban "happy slapping." A charitable reading would be that the lawmakers stumbled into unintended consequences. Not according to Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi: "The broad drafting of the law so as to criminalize the activities of citizen journalists unrelated to the perpetrators of violent acts is no accident, but rather a deliberate decision by the authorities, said [Cohet]. He is concerned that the law, and others still being debated, will lead to the creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet."

3 of 531 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Workaround by multisync · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    So, what do you have to do in order to be considered a journalist in France?

    Surrender?


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  2. NTFS support for Linux by oyenstikker · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Why does Linux need NTFS support? I have used Linux's NTFS read support to back up dead Windows machines, but have never needed to write it. What would you use write support for?

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    The masses are the crack whores of religion.
  3. Re:yes, please be real... by Oligonicella · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    To be on equal footing, you must contribute equally. They don't.