Slashdot Mirror
Man Who Named His Wi-Fi SSID 'Daesh 21' Prosecuted Under French Anti-Terror Law (arstechnica.com)
An 18-year-old man from Dijon was convicted for "praising terrorism" and was given a suspended sentence of three months in prison because the SSID of his Wi-Fi network was "Daesh 21." From an article on Ars Technica:Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, and "21" in this context represents the number for the Cote d'Or, the French department, or province, where Dijon is located. The unnamed man was prosecuted under a new French anti-terrorism law (Article 421-2-5) passed in November 2014 that makes it a crime to "directly provoke acts of terrorism or to publicly praise one such act." If convicted, offenders can be punished by up to five years in prison and a $83,000 fine. Such penalties are raised to seven years and $111,000 if the crime was committed by using a "public online communication service." A local newspaper, Le Bien public, described the man as being "totally dazed" in front of the court and said that he was "not a terrorist." He was first sentenced to 100 hours of community service, which he refused, but he was finally given a three-month suspended sentence.
How is that sentence possible? Using "daesh" does not appraise IS at all. They hate that name.
When your own government acts like terrorists -- you know the terrorists have won.
The terrorists have very effectively smashed the US Constitution and removed a huge swathe of "freedoms" that were previously enjoyed by Western nations. They did not do this alone -- the governments of those nations were complicit with the terrorists' objectives by bending to the pressure.
As Midnight OIl said: I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. Sadly, Western governments have opted to strip their peoples of the freedoms they're (allegedly) trying to protect, in promise of security.
Benajin Franklin quote goes here [....]
"Daesh" is a pejorative term for ISIS. Referring to it by that name is hardly "praise".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
When I setup my sister in law's access point in a small apartment building and I was explaining why she should use a password, we ended up naming her SSID "Fuck off, freeloaders".
I named mine "Shocking Porn", which was all well and good until I ended up with my wife and six other women seated around the dining room table planning an event for the elementary school and one of them wanted wifi....
Benajin Franklin quote goes here [....]
Yes, we need to remember those quotes by Benajin Franklin and those other famous founding fathers like
Tosam Jefferson
Groeg Washington
Alexnader Hamilton
Jasm Madison
Samle Adams
and others.
If you wonder why there are so many acts of terrorism in France, it's because - unlike most of the West, which just leaves peaceful Muslims alone to do whatever - there is an on-going internal cultural war between things that are considered French and non-French, and that war isn't just of words but enforced by laws. For example, everyone marched under the ostensible freedom-of-speech banner of je suis Charlie, but this is the same publication that was being regularly attacked in the courts by the government when poked fun at some aspect of Judaism.
tl;dr do NOT trust France. They do not bring the same values to the table as the US, the UK, Ireland, post-Franco Spain, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Finland, or even post-Nazi Germany. They have been the model so far of severe, irrelevant restrictions of rights with the excuse of "terror!" - nothing like the US, which while imposing temporary bullshit that undoubtedly curb the principles enshrined in the Constitution, still has a massive public voice in opposition, and has not crept in scope anywhere like in France. The best thing we can do is NOT follow them.
While there may be problems w/ France, whenever I read about terror attacks anywhere in the world, I don't wonder what the recipient did wrong. I assume - and am frequently proven right - that it's Muslims being Islamic. Nothing more, nothing less.
Take the Charlie Hebdo paper, for instance. Yeah, they did cartoons mocking Jews, but Jews did not take it up to themselves to shoot up the place. A lot of people and media outlets, particularly in Europe and particularly of the Left, are downright obnoxious, but none of the targets of their attacks take it upon themselves to resort to violence. Even in the US, you have media outlets regularly attack all sorts of groups, barring one. Muslims. B'cos they know that they'll be attacked for being 'racist' by terror groups like CAIR on one end, as well as get targeted by Muslim vigilantes on the other.
If you think France is an exception, look at Denmark. You had those Danish cartoons, followed by not just protests and boycotts of Danish products (perfectly legitimate) but also death threats. And you've had terror attacks in the UK, Germany and other places. Normally, I'm against any government ordering its citizens to undress, but the presence of burqinis or burqhas in beaches is definitely intimidating, given how jihadist terror can occur anywhere
Also, on the issue of what is French and non-French, that's a perfectly valid 'cultural war' to have. First of all, not all countries are 'international' countries, and any nation is at liberty to define itself not just by borders, but also by language and culture. France was at one time a Catholic country that has morphed into a secular one, but it is still well within its rights to impose curbs on people wanting to be a part of it. While religious freedom is there, it's perfectly legitimate for them to tell Muslims, 'If you are going to have 4 wives, you're not welcome here. If you are going to honor kill your daughter for wanting to marry a French non-Muslim, we will toss you in jail. If you are going to spraypaint graffiti on synagoges, you are going away. If you behead a priest at an alter, we will kill you.'
So yeah, France is not a country I admire, but on this issue, they have it dead right. They need to make it tough for Muslims to practice Shariah law within their countries. Those who want to do that can be deported back to Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco or whichever country they came from. Or give them a one way ticket to Raqqa to join ISIS, and see to it that they can never enter Europe again