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Man Who Named His Wi-Fi SSID 'Daesh 21' Prosecuted Under French Anti-Terror Law (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the stranger-things dept.

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.

9 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Daesh is depreciatory by RandomSurfer314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    How is that sentence possible? Using "daesh" does not appraise IS at all. They hate that name.

    1. Re:Daesh is depreciatory by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More to the point: how does naming a Wifi access point "Daesh" possibly constitute apology of terrorism, or aiding terrorists? It's not like some random dude will drive by with a laptop and suddenly go "Well, would you look at that: that there Wifi access point is called "Daesh". I suddenly want to kill infidels! Allahu akbar!!!"

      What that is really is a clear example of the french democracy going 1984...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:Daesh is depreciatory by Joviex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One of my neighbors has his WiFi access point named after the local pro football team. I think a reasonable person would conclude he's a fan of that team. Same thing here.

      Ah yes, the good old assumption law.

      Instead of asking his intent, and getting his take, like maybe he wanted to mark the NAME and the PLACE where a POS was held, in a public way, for people to remember, and never forget a POS's NAME.

      Luckily, we don't need to know his INTENT. We can just go arrest him, because of the good old assumption law!

      We have this here too! Brought to you in America by first world privilage birth, and re-enforced by the Patriot Act.

  2. The terrorists have won by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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 [....]

    1. Re:The terrorists have won by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Western governments are over-stepping bounds, but I'm fairly certain you weren't shot for typing your response. Nor will you be prosecuted.

      The government prosecuting speech of an individual is precisely the point of this whole post.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    2. Re:The terrorists have won by bigbang137 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How dumb do you have to be to ask this question? It was just a few weeks ago that the FBI forced all people in a building to unlock their iphones if they had a fingerprint unlock. People get subject to ridiculous security theater and their skin to radiation-intensive scanning in airports everyday. When they google pressure cooker, they get a visit from the bureau. What else do you want?

    3. Re:The terrorists have won by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "If you don't like the government abuse of free speech, just shut up."

      Awesome advice there, jackass.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  3. The court apparently overlooked something... by orospakr · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Daesh" is a pejorative term for ISIS. Referring to it by that name is hardly "praise".

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  4. Ah yes... founding father Benajin Franklin by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.