Comment Re:If the French people are on board... good (Score 1) 213
"If the French are on board..." Are you joking? I happen to be French, living in France, so I can tell you this filtering system was not at all wanted or asked for by the French. You seem to have peculiar delusions regarding democracy as carried out by representatives.
Moreover, all the newspapers I've read, all the radio news I've heard here spoke only of child pornography. I discussed this with friends and we were really baffled because this is the usual scarecrow, it had to be something else they wanted, but we didn't find the information about hate thought crimes--which is what this is really about.
At least one site has already been banned for political reasons, but it took a ruling by a court. Our politicians have wanted for years to go further than that and ban quite a few sites based on their political subject (I'm not saying I agree with the content of these sites); passing yet another law restricting free speech (already far more curtailed than in the US) was not politically convenient. So they had this pragmatic idea: "it's not us, it's the people" (meaning "at least one person", I bet) which will allow the interior ministry (directly in charge of identifying sites that will be banned) to outlaw pretty much anything it wants as of now.
Bottom-line: no, the "people of France" have not asked for filtering; no, we were not consulted; no, we do not agree; no, we can't do anything about it; and moreover, child pornography is not the real subject. Thought crime is.
Moreover, all the newspapers I've read, all the radio news I've heard here spoke only of child pornography. I discussed this with friends and we were really baffled because this is the usual scarecrow, it had to be something else they wanted, but we didn't find the information about hate thought crimes--which is what this is really about.
At least one site has already been banned for political reasons, but it took a ruling by a court. Our politicians have wanted for years to go further than that and ban quite a few sites based on their political subject (I'm not saying I agree with the content of these sites); passing yet another law restricting free speech (already far more curtailed than in the US) was not politically convenient. So they had this pragmatic idea: "it's not us, it's the people" (meaning "at least one person", I bet) which will allow the interior ministry (directly in charge of identifying sites that will be banned) to outlaw pretty much anything it wants as of now.
Bottom-line: no, the "people of France" have not asked for filtering; no, we were not consulted; no, we do not agree; no, we can't do anything about it; and moreover, child pornography is not the real subject. Thought crime is.
