New law in France forbids filming and Net posting of real-world violence

[OzmO]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/08/france.violence.ap/index.html

PARIS, France (AP) -- A new law in France makes it a crime -- punishable by up to five years in prison -- for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the Internet.

Critics call it a clumsy, near-totalitarian effort by authorities to battle "happy slapping" -- the youth fad of filming violent acts -- which most often they have provoked themselves -- and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones.

[Dos Equis]

Awful.  This kind of censorship is very dangerous.  Very difficult to draw lines when you start criminalizing these types of things. 

[OzmO]

Awful.  This kind of censorship is very dangerous.  Very difficult to draw lines when you start criminalizing these types of things. 

It is, and it brings up the subject of internet regulation also

[youandme]

Terrible. Sign of the times.

[Tre]

When I visited France back in 1996, I picked up a copy of a French magazine that had pictures of a gruesome torture-murder scene that had actually been posted online (can't recall the URL right now). 

It was sick, but I remember thinking, 'Wow, pretty cool' at the time.  I was in the military at the time and wasn't really aware that human life had any value. 

[Camel Jockey]

What the hell..  Too much censorship is not good and to put people in prison over violent images is even worse..

[24KT]

When I visited France back in 1996, I picked up a copy of a French magazine that had pictures of a gruesome torture-murder scene that had actually been posted online (can't recall the URL right now). 

It was sick, but I remember thinking, 'Wow, pretty cool' at the time.  I was in the military at the time and wasn't really aware that human life had any value. 

Tre, don't beat yourself up over it. Be glad you were able to cope and have since come to see the light.
Some guys have too rude an awakening over the disconnect military service can induce, and it can get pretty ugly.

If it makes ya feel any better, when I was a little girl, I never thought twice about stomping on an ant,
or lighting them up on the sidewalk with a magnifying glass.    We all get older & wiser thankfully. 

[Deedee]

It's not the complete story though.  A private citizen can film a violent crime "in the cause of justice", meaning you can film a violent rape taking place if you do so to help apprehend the rapist. You can't film it if you distribute it or put it on the net for "fun."  Which isn't such a bad thing in theory, since people, especially victims should be entitled to their privacy.  One of the problems that arises, is that you might have a tough time filming police brutality scenes under the "in the cause of justice" header.

[OzmO]

It's not the complete story though.  A private citizen can film a violent crime "in the cause of justice", meaning you can film a violent rape taking place if you do so to help apprehend the rapist. You can't film it if you distribute it or put it on the net for "fun."  Which isn't such a bad thing in theory, since people, especially victims should be entitled to their privacy.  One of the problems that arises, is that you might have a tough time filming police brutality scenes under the "in the cause of justice" header.

Can you put it on the net for "news" or do you have to be a certified news person?  Can you put it on the net for research?  Can you put it on the net for a "project"?  Can you put it on the net to tell a story to some one else?

That's an attempt to limit and censor what people can do with what they see and record and then penalize them if they are not a news person.

[Deedee]

I read on a couple of blogs that they were going to have to relook at the wording of the law since it was so wide open.

I also read on some "Frenglish" blog - some Parisian's POV - that the reason this was instituted had much to do with the riots last year when there were those muslim/minority clashes with police... in that it eases the way for the cops to go into these areas and beat the crap out of people with more impunity.

That's the interesting perspective on this whole thing, I thought.