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The French Government Can Now Censor the Internet
Psychophrenes writes "A new episode in French internet legislation — French ministers have passed a bill (original in French) allowing the government to add any website to a black list, which access providers will have to enforce. This black list will be defined by the government only, without requiring the intervention of the legal system. Although originally intended against pedo-pornographic websites, this bill is already outdated, as was Hadopi in its time, and instead paves the way for a global censorship of the 'French internet.'"
I am french and at the moment everybody should leave this country for china.
...that Wikileaks is on that list? Or similar sites?
France being France.
Tired of my customary (Score:1)
...given that they have gained a sort of reputation for having a canonical answer to everything--they have an institute that defines their language (and quashes neologisms); they have extensive fights regarding the IP that defines their wines; I wouldn't be surprised if they insist on the One True Baguette Recipe.
While this is a rather stupid step to take, I'm going to be very interested in how it plays out. They'll fail, of course, but perhaps this will spur faster development of distributed DNS or alternative DNS systems.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
The business of government only expands in power and revenue throughout its lifetime, never willingly or permanently reducing power or revenue. History has proven this over and over again, to the point where one could argue that the entire objective of government is power and revenue.
I remain absolutely shocked that the common man doesn't consider this a giant red flag.
I wonder if they will add Google's list of French military victories to that blacklist...
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
There goes that "Liberté" thing you fought for. Better luck next time.
Where is that legendary fighting French spirit?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
...add any website to a black list, which access providers will have to enforce.
I don't know how feasible this really is. Are they going to block encrypted and VPN traffic as well? Deep packet inspection to disallow the use of proxies? Denying access to DNS servers outside France? The government has essentially passed legislation to hold service providers accountable for something that, frankly, is impossible to impliment. If you are an internet service provider in France right now, I'd be seriously thinking of selling my stocks, cashing in, and getting the hell out now, before you lose your whole investment on a piece of government legislation destined to cause many, many judges to facepalm.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Allright boys and girls, lets all say it together.
Blacklists don't work. :)
Buying a new domain costs very little - especially if we're talking about child porn websites - which aren't meant to get millions of hits per day.
Now, lets wait until someone discovers that torrents may contain child porn. Then the circle will be complete.
Just go on QuatreChan and get Anonyme to threaten a DdSD (déni de service distribué) attack on all of France.
Once again a western government uses the drummed-up fear of pedophiles as a stalking horse to eradicate human liberty. The damnedest thing is that pedophiles are about as peaceful a group of people as can be found - but I suppose that is why the government has chosen this target. It's harder to crack down on minorities who are inclined and strong enough to strike back.
It's easier to hire the angry people to put down the peaceful people than the other way around, and get the angry people to accept the loss of freedom as "necessary" to the struggle.
A few facts about the bête noire du jour. Remember, the loss of your freedom depends on the people never learning the truth ... at least, until it is too late.
Only with Drugs. The FDA, HHS, and DEA have this exact power, completely unchecked by the legal system to basically make laws on the fly about individual substances by changing their classification.
If they wanted to make Asprin a felony tomorrow, they could... and stores would have to comply in a hurry. It is not subject to Judicial review
Although on the surface it would seem like the two have not much to do with each other, drug convictions are a great way to imprison people and deny them their right to vote, which is perhaps more powerful than merely limiting free speech online.
If it is not published officially, somone will probably give it to wikileaks or a similar site. With all providers having that list.
As terrible as the news is, there is still hope. The law isn't passed yet. The article was voted in the National Assembly (lower chamber). It still requires, before being a valid law :
1. A vote on the law as a whole in the lower chamber.
2. A vote on the article in the upper chamber (Senate).
3. A vote on the law as a whole in the upper chamber.
4. If the two versions are different, even a coma apart (which is almost always the case), a full new vote on each of the chambers.
5. A validation by the Constitutional Council.
Points 1. and 3. are very likely to succeed, saddly. But point 2., the vote on the article in the upper chamber can reasonably change the law, adding a validation by a judge for example. The UMP (Sarkozy's party) doesn't have absolute majority in the Senate, so they need to compromise with the center-right which may obtain that.
And then the validation by the Constitutional Council is unlikely, they censored the HADOPI (three-strike law for "illegal downloading"), stating clearly that Internet in the XXIest century is protected by the article 11 of the Declaration of Humans and Citizen Rights (which is part of our Constitution) : The free communication of thoughts and of opinions is one of the most precious rights of man: any citizen thus may speak, write, print freely, save [if it is necessary] to respond to the abuse of this liberty, in the cases determined by the law. , their interpretation being that abuse of this liberty, in the cases determined by the law can only be confirmed by a court after due legal process. It would surprise me for them to turn back on this stance, and allow Internet censorship without decision of a court.
But since the UMP has more friends than foes in the Constitutional Council, and that it is to protect the children will they will validate it :(
But anyway, it's still not a lost battle, and we are still fighting against the law.
How typical, France re-invents the Maginot firewall. Churchill: "Where are your anti-circumvention procedures?" French high command: "Aucune..."
-soup (GNUrd, Speaker to Machines) "Laugh at yourself- Why should everyone else have all the fun?" -Romanchek's 6th Ru
It's not just France, though. There's also the Great Firewall of China, the Great Australian Firewall, the US Department of Homeland Security shutting down domains (with COICA in the works to make take-downs even easier), and probably others I'm not aware of.
The Internet was a nice experiment in global freedom of expression, but now that governments are catching up those freedoms are beginning to disappear.
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
I suspect there are more than a few Hondurans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, El Salvadorians, Belizians, Costa Ricans, and Panamanians who would take exception to that statement
Have you been to any of those countries? When you travel down there, you'll see that they all proudly proclaim that they're part of "Central America." They puposely distance themselves from North or South America. For example, here's a Belizean license plate:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1AAaANrTdAM/SgHAxpUOqcI/AAAAAAAABKg/MVvHKJR7EWI/s400/belize.jpg
The C.A. on the plate stands for "Central America."