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French President Proposes Jail For Terrorist Website Visitors

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-it-quacks-like-a-terrorist dept.

howardd21 writes "French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is only a month away from an election, argued that it is time to treat those who browse extremist websites the same way as those who consume child pornography. 'Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison,' he told a campaign rally in Strasbourg, in eastern France. 'Don't tell me it's not possible. What is possible for pedophiles should be possible for trainee terrorists and their supporters, too.' Is this a good move for security, or just another step towards a totalitarian society that prohibits free expression?"

16 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Do you have to ask? by mhajicek · · Score: 5, Funny

    So do you jail the intelligence agents who monitor said sites?

    1. Re:Do you have to ask? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Naturally, no.

      Special exemptions for "special citizens".

      Like how Congress passes a law, but conveniently exempts themselves from it's application to themselves.

    2. Re:Do you have to ask? by second_coming · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Obviously not, in much the same way that enforcement agencies monitoring any other illegal content wouldn't be.

      Police and civilian IT forensic staff have to witness all kinds of completely illegal images/content on a daily basis and there is no question of any wrongdoing on their part.

      But then you knew that anyway.

    3. Re:Do you have to ask? by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, just journalists and researchers.

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  2. Attacking the soul of France... by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The French should remind themselves that their motto is Liberté, égalité, fraternité, and that all three bits are important.

    1. Re:Attacking the soul of France... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In an unfortunate twist, the sorts of reactions that our favorite diminutive head of state proposes are exactly the sort of thing that seems like an attractive tactical move; but makes a unbelieveably dreadful strategic one against your assorted religious nutjobs and fundamentalist reactionaries...

      It is certainly true that some people Simply Aren't Interested in ye olde western enlightenment values, no matter how good a job you do of actually upholding them. Those you pretty much have to put up with, with the proviso that if they cross the line, you'll have to kill them.

      For everybody else, though, the lousier and more hypocritical your execution of your supposed ideals, the worse you look, and the better the chap down the road who has shit ideals, but is at least real sincere about them, starts to look.

      If your sales pitch ends up being "Welcome to the Free World(tm): We offer the finest in postmodern cynicism and brutality cloaked in the noblest sounding invocations of highflown principle than money can buy. Please look directly into the retinal scanner and have an nice day." You can't very well expect to stem fundamentalist recruitment very effectively...

    2. Re:Attacking the soul of France... by gadget+junkie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The French should remind themselves that their motto is Liberté, égalité, fraternité, and that all three bits are important.

      I beg to disagree. I live only a few miles from France, in a possibly worse country (Italy). the three words of the motto are sometimes in contradiction of each other, because one of the best tenets of liberty,and relevant to the topic, is that i must be allowed to hate your guts, which means "middle finger to fraternitè", but that I must not be allowed to limit YOUR liberty to hate MY guts.
      individuals will mostly prefer liberty over fraternity; the politicians will always prefer fraternity over liberty, because it will give them the means, and the moral justification to meddle in everybody's life and make themselves relevant. this case is no different, and there's no politico like a french one.

      --
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  3. Re:Is It One of Those Laws Where Everyone is Guilt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Presidential elections are just one month from now. He just wants to glean some votes from the far-right voters

  4. Re:bring it on. by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    this is the kind of warped perspective that makes no sense to me

    so much venom for the west

    what do you think of guys who hold the hair of eight year old girls and execute them?

    i'm not supporting this ridiculous visit-a-website,go-to-jail law. it's stupid

    i'm taking a stand against the warped perspective that: the west does something you dislike, so you support something far worse

    you do realize it's possible to be disgusted by BOTH islamic radicalization and censorial overreach, right?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Violence or Violence? by Mr_Blank · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison

    Such a law would be a joy for military recruiters. Click the links below to be put onto a French terrorist watch list!
    Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines!
    Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines!

    I suppose the French President meant violence he does not agree with should be prosecuted. That makes more sense.

  6. Thought police by halfkoreanamerican · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if we should jail those who think about visiting said sites? That would be a crime too, if I'm not mistaken.

  7. I have visited terrorist websites by Teppy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Including Inspire magazine (Al Qaeda's English-language publication), the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, and sites sympathetic to the Oklahoma city bombing.

    I want to understand what motivates these people; I want to think about what sort of public policy creates the most freedom, prosperity, safety; I want to understand the enemy and figure out why they're the enemy in the first place.

    So I guess I'd be put in jail for this if I lived in France. Is Sarkozy saying that only politicians are able to reason about such things? Hell of a job they've done so far.

    1. Re:I have visited terrorist websites by afeeney · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Why? Why do you want to understand these people? I'm serious. Why deliberately fill your head with hatred and evil and seek to know what motivates these people? Can you? Is it possible? To what end?

      Not the original poster, but there are a lot of valid reasons to view hate sites. (Leaving aside the intellectual freedom issues, etc.)

      1. Simple intellectual curiosity into the motivations of terrorists, militant racists, etc..

      2. In order to better evaluate the positions that politicians take in fighting terrorism or hate crimes. If I don't know what drives them, how can I evaluate how people want to stop them? How can I best vote and contribute as a citizen?

      3. The same morbid curiosity that drives people to read real crime novels/watch movies about serial killers. It's not necessarily a "good" reason but it's a valid one.

      4. Professional interest from mental health/cognitive professionals.

      5. A friend/family member's concern about somebody who seems to be increasingly sympathetic to terrorists, militant racists, etc. I can't counter the white supremacist's/terrorist's/ethnic cleanser arguments if I don't know what they're arguing.

      6. The desire of moderate Christians/Jews/Hindus/Muslims to argue against religiously-motivated terrorism by their co-religionists in general. Most of them do.

  8. Not enough time to pass by AwaxSlashdot · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is a law-project tailored specifically to address the crazy killer that shot 7 people recently in France.

    The presidential election is less than 1 month away and no more laws would be discussed or voted in the mean time. So this law would never pass.

    The killer was under scrutiny since his return from Afghanistan. Since he hasn't done anything in France, he could be arrested and jailed. They weren't able to detect any suspicious behavior like planning to plant a bomb which is the most common terrorist act in Europe. We have very few gun-related deaths compared to the US, so such a killing spree is very unusual. This is the most obvious reason his planning went undetected.

    The point of this stupid law is to give an excuse for the Police to arrest and jail anyone with a slight hint of suspect behavior, before they might be planning to commit actual crime.

    As usual, this is stupid and inefficient.

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  9. Brings a new worry... by AlecC · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...to rickrolling - or call it terrortrolling. Just set up a few fake links for your gullible frenemies, and get them the dawn knock on the door.

    --
    Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
  10. Re:Parent post is not "flamebait" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    May be worth mentioning the guy who killed 70+ people in Sweden was snow white and claimed to be Christian. Look that fact up too.