France Responds To Paris Attacks By Rushing Through Internet Censorship Law
from the always-good-to-legislating-while-freaking-out,-huh? dept
The attacks in Paris were a horrible and tragic event -- and you can understand why people are angry and scared about it. But, as always, when politicians are angry and scared following a high-profile tragedy, they tend to legislate in dangerous ways. It appears that France is no exception. It has pushed through some kneejerk legislation that includes a plan to censor the internet. Specifically the Minister of the Interior will be given the power to block any website that is deemed to be "promoting terrorism or inciting terrorist acts." Of course, this seems ridiculous on many levels.First, there are the basic concerns about free speech. Yes, I know this is France and it doesn't value free speech in the same way as the US, but it's still rather distressing just how quickly and easily the French government seems willing to adopt censorship measures. Second, what good does this actually do? If ISIS sympathizers are expressing their views publicly, doesn't that make it easier to track them and to find out what they're doing and saying? Isn't that what law enforcement should want? Focusing on censorship rather than tracking simply drives those conversations and efforts underground where they can still be used to influence people, but where it's much harder for government and law enforcement ot keep track of what's being said. It also only confirms to ISIS supporters that what they're saying must be so important and valuable if the government won't even let them say it. It's difficult to see how it does any good, and instead it opens up the possibility of widespread government censorship and the abuse of such a power.
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Filed Under: censorship, france, free speech, internet, isis, paris attacks, terorrism
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You're upset about *this*, Masnick? You are truly the slime of the earth.
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You are sad.
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Define "authoritarian" state. USSR, Nazi Germany, WWII Imperial Japan, East Germany (a la Stasi), Franco's fascist Spain, Mussolini's Italy, or 21st century USA?
I could go on. Lots of Australians consider their gov't authoritarian. The British certainly do. Then there's Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma/Myanmar, lots of African and east European or Asian (former USSR) that fit. I haven't even touched south or central America yet.
The times, they are a changin'. That word's about lost all meaning in this century.
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I love the way you slur "Masnick". I can almost see the spittle dripping off your moustache from here. Breath. Breathe.
Funny guy.
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Devil's Advocate
On the other hand, I have no doubt that this legislation will quickly be applied to things that have nothing to do with terrorism, thereby perverting the intent completely.
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Re: Devil's Advocate
Go look up the history of the Spanish civil war, and the foreign brigades fighting on both sides. That occurred in the days of printed and hand distributed leaflets being the main means of propaganda and recruitment for political extremists.
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Re: Devil's Advocate
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Re: Devil's Advocate
If your fellow countrymen can be lured into ISIS then you have a much deeper problem that society has to own up to.
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Re: Re: Devil's Advocate
Nuh uh! You take that back!
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Re: Devil's Advocate
Funny, but that's what I expect parents to do for their children. You know, educate them on things that are stupid and destructive? As in, don't go there, there's only death there, who needs that crap?
I blame their parents for having failed their children's education! Lazy sluggards.
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Or is this just yet another case of politicians cashing in on tragedy to ram through unrelated laws that they couldn't get through otherwise?
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Oh, and we always wanted to get rid of XXX and yyy, and you must forget those immediately.
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What's next
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Re: What's next
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I'm surprised they didn't just ban Judaism, because after all, the terrorists were NOT JEWS!
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Ivan Pavlov's giggling his head off. Such suckers. Easy money. I am amazed at its staying power. 9/11, then pretty much nothing really except for incremental boosts/reminders, and the whole civilized world shakes in their boots continually. Good job, for so little invested.
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Binge time
I swear, our human-rights oriented western governments are like a bunch of binge drunks let run loose in a liquor store. They take an oath to get off the hooch, but turn them loose in the store and watch what happens...
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Re: Binge time
Human rights and individual freedoms are *so* last century. Please, try to keep up. We're bingeing on fascism and tyranny so far this century. It's what's fashionable today, don't you know? Think Nazi Brownshirts, Einsatzgruppen and stormtroopers, bullets in the backs of heads (Beria and Butcher of Lyon), burning down the Reichstag, mass graves, yada, yada.
It'll be fun! :-P
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What France really wants is to bring back Minitel
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The Fear Train. Right on schedule.
I suppose Five Eyes wants to test the reaction to stage one of the End of the Web, in a country nobody gives a shit about, to see how the wind blows.
Methinks its gonna be an interesting and memorable winter.
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Re: The Fear Train. Right on schedule.
Methinks you've forgotten a bit of history you shouldn't have.
Napoleonic law: guilty until proven innocent. Also, France used to own Syria. Now they want it back. DeGaulle: go piss up a rope NATO! France was also very communist during USSR days (easily bought by the KGB folding money). Personally, I think that both the US and Britain went way overboard in their hatred of communists. France wasn't alone in not hating them. Both Italy and Greece agreed with them.
They don't play nicely with the other children. They also couldn't give a flying !#$ if we don't like it.
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Re: Re: The Fear Train. Right on schedule.
Not the point at all though.
Five Eyes simply wants France to know that the future holds more of the same if they do not play ball according to the Five Eyes mandate of co-operative world control. Five Eyes cares not for loyalty and trust from its minions. It wants control only.
While the French population has mainly said "fuck you terrorists", and taken to the streets to party hardy in plain sight, the French Government will be meeting with 5-I reps over the next few months, secretly, to iron out some basic changes in French International Policy and pay their dues, probably in the form of wet-work and espionage on its neighbors, for future "protection" against similar "terrorist events", and by giving their full support for the future "Trade Deals" that will make the internet government friendly.
The Five Eyes doesn't allow non-english, non-white nations into the inner circle, but it does have a shitload of minion nations that do its dirty work for it, in return for protection from; shall we say, "strife". 5-Is is after all designed along the same lines as standard fascism - master-slave structure.
While the French Government may not give a shit if the US is unhappy, its members do care a whole lot for their own personal safety, and the French Assault was literally an example of how the 5-Is can penetrate and assassinate anywhere they pleased.
While it is altogether possible that the French - an old nation with much real pride - will take this as an act of war and begin a program of systematic elimination of ISIS world wide, just to spite the Five Eyes once again - which is my hope - I think it more likely that you will be seeing a definite improvement in French-American relations and co-operation, over the next few months. :)
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"promoting terrorism or inciting terrorist acts"
So, France just blackholed the US gov't? Cool! :-) This should be fun.
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Ah, c'mon. Everybody knows they get their best Intel these days from Facebook & Twitter. Stupid terrorists.
France, like China, doesn't have a 1st amendment. They're both old world and prize stability and peaceful control over individual freedom. Who's right? That's yet to be determined, but they're both a lot older than us.
Aside, "enforcement ot keep"? Fat fingers R us.
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?????????????
Ummm... no doubt this makes complete sense to everyone but me, but I ran out of coffee this morning and the code deciphering part of my brain is a little bent right now...
Could you elucidate on the above text somewhat??
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Sorry for making your head spin. :-P
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Ah! Gotcha.
No coffee needed!
Thanks.
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Move Along, Nothing To See.
Now, as to the internet sites, what the Islamic radicals do is to attract young men who have grievances, and get them to talk about their grievances, and separate out the ones who still have grievances after letting off steam, and who are disposed to accept that their personal grievances have political explanations, and invite them to dinner for further talk. The young men gradually get drawn in deeper and deeper, they start living in the section-leader's attic or something like that, and only at the last stages are they propositioned for illegal action. The conditions in the attic are naturally sufficiently uncomfortable that if a young man has the chance to move into a girl's apartment, that is obviously a material improvement. The second stage of recruitment is to get the young men living together in the most intimate degree, like Marine recruits in barracks. I very much doubt you can recruit a young man for much of anything while he is still eating at McDonald's. So government censorship is going to work out in practice to forbidding people to complain that they have lousy jobs, or that their parents don't understand them, or that girls look at them disdainfully, or that kind of thing.
There is an American military expression: "Ya found a home in the Army." This expression is usually employed derisively, tauntingly, but it expresses an inner truth.
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Re: Move Along, Nothing To See.
Mass Surveillance of the public has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with spying on, capturing or eliminating terrorists.
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Comradery and Fellowship are indeed strong incentives to those who are outcast and despondent, and "belonging to something larger than yourself" still seems to be a thing that "the lost" find attractive, but for the creation of the real self-destructive suicide "soldiers", a simple contractual agreement to make the fool's family rich after the act is done, works far better than the best recruitment and indoctrination process ever devised.
A young, idealistic and immature son or daughter, who can lift their whole family out of poverty through a single, easily accomplished, solitary action, against a popularly reviled national enemy, will know that he or she will never be forgotten, whether their family approves of the action or not.
It is instant and lasting fame of the sort that those living in poverty could otherwise never dream of having.
By paying off the families of the these child martyrs, as contracted, other impoverished children are attracted to the "cause".
Very little, if any, recruitment or indoctrination is required.
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Re: Re: Move Along, Nothing To See.
Mass Surveillance of the public has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with spying on, capturing or eliminating terrorists.
Very true.
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Progress?
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