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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 10 2019, @06:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the Free-speech-is-priceless dept.

[Ed. Note: Behind the invective and political slant in this story is a subject that I think could lead to a fruitful discussion. "The price of liberty is constant vigilance." SoylentNews is a little corner of the 'net that tries to provide a venue for open discussion. Are our days numbered or threatened? What can be done? Just keep doing what we are doing?]

France has turned into one of the worldwide threats to free speech

Just over one year ago, French President Emmanuel Macron came to the United States to import two potentially invasive species to Washington. One was a tree and the other was a crackdown on free speech. Ironically, soon after the tree was planted, officials dug it up to send it to quarantine. However, the more dangerous species was his acorn of speech controls, a proposal that resulted in rapturous applause from our clueless politicians.

While our politicians in the United States may applaud Macron like village idiots, most Americans are hardcore believers in free speech. It runs in our blood. Undeterred, however, Macron and others in Europe are moving to unilaterally impose speech controls on the internet with new legislation in France and Germany. If you believe this is a European issue, think again.

Macron and his government are attempting to unilaterally scrub out the internet of hateful thoughts. The French Parliament has moved toward a new law that would give internet companies like Facebook and Google just 24 hours to remove hateful speech from their sites or face fines of $1.4 million per violation. A final vote is expected next week. Germany passed a similar measure last year and imposed fines of $56 million.


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  • (Score: 1) by Betteridge on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:03PM (3 children)

    by Betteridge (7289) on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:03PM (#865479)

    Well, as usual, I say... "No."

    Er... well, umm... "maybe"?

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:31PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:31PM (#865485)

    That actually an easy one : Government employees are too lazy to go after any but the worst offenses.
    add a judiciary that goes at tectonic speed, and you end up with something only the most blatant nazi sympathizers could worry about.

    > Macron and his government are attempting to unilaterally scrub out the internet of hateful thoughts.
    > The French Parliament has moved toward a new law that would give internet companies like Facebook
    > and Google just 24 hours to remove hateful speech from their sites or face fines of $1.4 million per violation.

    "Hey! You're selling/publishing stuff that's illegal here!"
    "Wait, you can't expect me to stop doing that in less than 24 hours! That is an outrage!"
    "it's illegal, take it down"
    "Well, where I'm from, it's not illegal, so you are a big meaniiiie"

    Background for the outrage : Didn't they just vote a 3%-or-so tax on the big internet companies revenues ? Of course, the web is suddenly going to fill with "bad government, bad!" stories. Forget free speech, the internet giants are going to flare up any angle they can to make those oppressors recoil and leave their bottom line alone.

    • (Score: 2) by quietus on Wednesday July 10 2019, @09:28PM

      by quietus (6328) on Wednesday July 10 2019, @09:28PM (#865515) Journal

      It's not just France, though it takes the lead: an EU wide tax is in the works: maybe non-EU governments will get ideas too, then.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:42PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday July 10 2019, @08:42PM (#865489)

    Nah, "No" is right.

    Has anybody been killed for criticizing Emmanuel Macron? How about imprisoned? Has anybody been arrested for publishing true information that important people in the French government would like to not get out?

    Because those sorts of things have happened around the world, and while the French aren't what I'd call weak when it comes to projecting their power they aren't in the same league as, say, China.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.