European Commission Chickens Out: Allows Hungarian Media Censorship

from the no-moral-backbone dept

Mon, Feb 21st 2011 10:03pm — Mike Masnick

There was plenty of concern earlier this year, as Hungary took over the EU Presidency just at the same time it had passed a worrying new internet censorship law that lets the government fine any content provider that it judges to not be sufficiently "balanced." The European Commission apparently had planned to criticize the law... but somehow chickened out at the last minute. Glyn Moody points us to a (slightly confusing) account of what happened, where minutes before a vote was to be taken, some sort of "deal" was struck that appears to let Hungary continue to censor the media. Among the "concessions," it appears that the "balanced" part won't apply to internet-only media, but will still apply to other media. Online publications, though, still have to register with the government, and can face fines or get "dropped" from the register -- barring them from continuing to publish -- if they violate certain rules. As the report notes, this still seems like it goes against the basic concepts of freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: censorship, europe, hungary, media, regulations

14 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

monkyyy, 21 Feb 2011 @ 10:13pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, one less country i can flee to if the usa decides to start censoring
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2011 @ 11:05pm
  
  Re:
  Whaddya mean "starts"?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Mr Big Content, 21 Feb 2011 @ 11:49pm
    
    Re: Whaddya mean "starts"?
    Don�t you worry, the US Government would never dream of oppressing its citizens, because so many of them are armed, and at the slightest hint of any danger to their liberties, they would rise up as one and pulverize the oppressors.
    
    It is the Second Amendment that keeps us free.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Raif, 22 Feb 2011 @ 2:06pm
      
      Re: Re: Whaddya mean "starts"?
      Are you writing ironically?
      
      It would take quite a bit for the US citizenry have the resolve for a violent revolution, and I don't think small arms would help. :)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous, 21 Feb 2011 @ 11:30pm

Surprise surprise. You mean you can't just do whatever you want just because it's on the Internet? If those are their laws in real life, why wouldn't they apply online as well?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Feb 2011 @ 11:52pm
  
  Re:
  Surprise surprise, you didn't even bother reading the article.
  
  They aren't laws in real life. They ONLY apply online. No, something does not suddenly become more illegal just because its online.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- RikuoAmero (profile), 22 Feb 2011 @ 12:04am
  
  Re:
  Guess you didn't read the full article. According to this crazy law, you have to register with the Hungarian government to publish. Criticising the government in a news report would have to be "balanced" with something that praises the government.
  Also, think of it this way. This balancing mentality...imagine writing a news article say about a Nazi who's been captured after evading the authorities for decades. This law would have you balance the article, so on the same page, you would report about a Nazi wanted for the crimes of potentially thousands, and also praise him for something good he's done.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- The eejit (profile), 22 Feb 2011 @ 2:21am
  
  Re:
  Nice scarecrow you have there, let me burn it for you.
  
  This law only criminalises publishing anything without a license. That means, if you publish your own work online without obtaining a license from the government, you are liable for jailtime.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2011 @ 12:14am

Censorship is the future of the Internet.

Suck it up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Mike (profile), 22 Feb 2011 @ 3:11pm
  
  Re:
  OK, so that's a fatalistic response. If you really don't think you can change anything, then wouldn't it make sense to just save yourself some energy by not posting defeatist comments?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tfp, 22 Feb 2011 @ 4:53am

As an EU subject
'Hungary took over the EU Presidency'

I demand that they be sacked immediately for attempting to stifle free speech.

ALL governments LIE all the TIME and love subjugation, even yours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2011 @ 6:00am

Another Brick in the Wall
Governments all over the world seem to be moving to eliminate freedom. The ONLY ones moving the other way seem to be the ones that are facing revolt. It's a shame that they're all that way but a reminder to people that if you want freedom, you're going to HAVE to revolt every once in a while. No wonder governments are scared to death of the internet.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2011 @ 8:27am

The Socialist European Union. Remember it's the SEU now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2011 @ 10:19am
  
  Re:
  "The Socialist European Union. Remember it's the SEU now."
  
  That's right a socialist European union founded and built on the classic socialist foundation of a trading bloc.
  
  You're giving AC's a bad name you know.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]