macworld.com — The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. The law could lead to the imprisonment of eyewitnesses who film acts of police violence, or operators of Web sites publishing the images, one French civil liberties group warned Tues.
Mar 6, 2007 View in Crawl 4
liam76Mar 7, 2007
I think the recording is ok. I think the recording with the intent to distribute for pleasure is wrong.Lets say you and five friends go out four of your friends attack some guy but you sit there and film it. Even if they catch those guys if you knew what was going on and just wanted to record it for your buddies they want to be able to punish you as well.
liam76Mar 7, 2007
f**k Josh wolf.You can't be part of a movement, join in protests and then suddenly declare you are a journalist and expect complete freedom.He videotaped a crime by a movement he is involved with. He has no journalistic right to protect that video.
goatmonkey2112Mar 7, 2007
I guess they have to find another way to tell their buddies when it's time to run away.
Closed AccountMar 7, 2007
france = fascist society
sjl127Mar 7, 2007
Oh, MAN!!! France is so f**kED!!! (Samuel L Jackson voice).
screenwalkerMar 7, 2007
Welcome to Vichy France
jellygraphMar 7, 2007
The french government must be afraid of the participatory panopticon... they are suppressing a basic human right, by doing this... a violation of freedom
schniffMar 8, 2007
@h00paj00I am not advocating making money for myself or any one else for that matter. I am suggesting that history has shown that if you do not fund the institution that is the cause of your problems, the institution has much less power to enforce anything.@liam76 Yes, Josh Wolf was an activist and he did videotape a crime. I feel that that fact has to take a back seat because there is a judicial system that needs to be protected. Whether he is right or wrong this ruling opened the door for future problems for online journalists. A journalist can not have his or her rights revoked because of a bias towards an issue.
fortheunknowingMar 9, 2007
Just to keep the conversation somewhat more interesting, and because nobody has mentioned it so far;There actually is an organization which monitors global freedom of speech/press, called "Reporters sans Frontieres".(Is that American English? No, that's French, meaning "Reporters without borders" ;))Anybody interested in the debate over which countries (United States vs. France in particular) allow more press freedom should first check here;<a class="user" href="http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639">http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639</a>I will close by saying that I feel proud to be a citizen of a long-term no. 1 country on this list.
bamboolemurDec 31, 2008
Grand frere is big brother. Gros frere is more like fat brother.tabarnac!