Monday, March 14, 2011

Freedom of expression on the Internet: France placed "under surveillance" by RSF

France has made a grand entrance, Saturday, March 12, the list of countries placed "under surveillance" on freedom of expression on the Internet, Reporters Without Borders. "It is important for us to watch practices in repressive countries, but also what our democracies, and in this case there are a number of things that we were worried about France," summed up Monday in the Agence France Presse, Lucie Morillon, head of New Media Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"Obviously France is not China or Iran, we must keep the extent of it. But we posed this question for several months to put France under surveillance," she says. Done since the weekend, France is one of sixteen countries placed "under surveillance" by the association, while ten others (such as China, Iran or Cuba) are classified as "Internet enemies." AND THE HADOPI LOPPSI 2 pinned Main target in the viewfinder of RSF, the law against illegal downloading, called "Hadopi" (the High Authority for the dissemination of works and the protection of rights on the Internet), and the law orientation and programming for the performance of homeland security, Loppsi 2, which establishes, among other things, Internet filtering.

According to Lucie Morillon, "on behalf of goals entirely legitimate" as the fight against child pornography, these two laws "put in place mechanisms that can be dangerous for freedom of expression online." RSF believes that such Internet access is a "fundamental right" and is "unacceptable" for interrupting as provided Hadopi where many illegal downloads.

As for the Loppsi 2, the association condemned "the establishment of an administrative Web filtering without a court: once under 'psychological' crossed a number of other reasons can be used to filter other websites. In his analysis devoted to France, Reporters Without Borders also deplores the fact that 2010 was "a difficult year for online journalists and their sources" and refers to the burglary or theft of computers or hard drives journalists Sites Online information Rue89 Mediapart and working on the case-Woerth Bettencourt.

"It is difficult to establish responsibility, but 2010 has been difficult for journalists who were investigating sensitive cases. There are a number of pressures on sources that crééent a climate quite worrisome for online journalism in France," Lucie Morillon estimated. Wikileaks also on the case, "one of the first reaction was to want to ban housing, it is unfortunate that we have this kind of reflex," says the head of RSF.

"The fact that France is under surveillance is not surprising, for several years we see a dangerous shift in France, where the most repressive measures pass. The majority and the government have a kind of crusade against Internet ", for its part considers Zimmermann, spokesman of the organization La Quadrature du Net.

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