European Commission Chickens Out: Allows Hungarian Media Censorship
from the no-moral-backbone dept
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.
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Filed Under: censorship, europe, hungary, media, regulations
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Re: Whaddya mean "starts"?
It is the Second Amendment that keeps us free.
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They aren't laws in real life. They ONLY apply online. No, something does not suddenly become more illegal just because its online.
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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.
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Suck it up.
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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.
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As an EU subject
I demand that they be sacked immediately for attempting to stifle free speech.
ALL governments LIE all the TIME and love subjugation, even yours.
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Another Brick in the Wall
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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.
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Re: Re: Whaddya mean "starts"?
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. :)
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