What's Going On, France?

[Crazed Rabbit]

Apparently, there was a law passed against the filming of violence by anyone other than a journalist:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/apnews/st...464637,00.html

PARIS (AP) - A new law in France makes it a crime 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 effort by authorities to battle ``happy slapping,'' the youth fad of filming violent acts - which most often they have provoked - and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones.

The measure, tucked deep into a vast anti-crime law that took effect Wednesday, has alarmed media advocates who say it tramples on freedom of expression.

Ligue Odebi, an association that seeks to protect freedom of expression on the Internet, said the measure will also hinder citizens' abilities to expose police brutality.

``This makes France the Western country that most infringes on freedom of expression and information - particularly on the Internet,'' the group said in a statement on its Web site.

The measure has implications for online video sites like YouTube, or France's Dailymotion.com. Authorities could ask them to identify the sources of images made available through their sites.

The new provision targets ``happy slapping,'' a phenomenon that began in Britain and whose name belies the gravity of the attacks. Violators will be subject to up to five years in prison and nearly $100,000 in fines.

In France, ``happy slapping'' appears to be rare. Police have counted about 20 cases of filmed violence or sex attacks, but acknowledge there could be countless others.

Last year, a student used a cell phone camera to film an attack by a fellow student on a teacher at a high school in the town of Porcheville. In another incident, photos were taken of a young girl who was gang-raped in Nice and the images were circulated at her school.

Some believe that shows such as MTV's ``Jackass,'' in which the regulars perform stunts involving self-inflicted pain and humiliation, are the inspiration for the acts.

French authorities have been seeking new ways to combat youth violence after a wave of rioting, car burnings and violence mostly in poor neighborhoods on the fringes of Paris and other cities in 2005. French police first grew concerned with ``happy slapping'' when youths filmed during the rioting were seen using cell phones to record clashes between their friends and police.

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it understood the government's need to crack down on ``happy slapping,'' but feared the law draws a ``dangerous'' distinction that would punish ``regular citizens'' for doing what journalists are allowed to do.

``The sections of this law supposedly dealing with 'happy slapping' in fact have a much broader scope,'' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. ``Posting videos online showing violence against people could now be banned, even if it were the police carrying out the violence.''

Ligue Odebi noted that the approval of the law by France's Constitutional Council on Saturday fell on the 16th anniversary of the March 3, 1991, beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured on amateur video - a case that sparked a national outcry in the United States.

Talk about your bad timing, too. What the heck is this law supposed to accomplish?! I guess the ... whatever estate the press is gets to become more equal than others.

CR

[Husar]

I do have a guess what it could be useful for and that is getting kids arrested who film how their mates beat up another kid and then publish it.
I don't really know why a normal person would want to film violence anyway, except maybe if it helps in arresting an aggressor. Then again, why film the aggressor instead of helping the victim?

[English assassin]

i think we should encourage the filiming of happy slapping. It saves money and is less intrusive than CCTV. We have had quite a few cases in the UK where teenagers have filmed themselves committing crimes, posted the video on the internet, the police have seen the video, come round and arrested the kid who is then convicted on the basis of his own video evidence. Result!

As a friend of mine who is a criminal barrister once remarked sadly, you would not BELIEVE how stupid the average criminal is. its a shame we can't criminalise stupidity really.

[Fisherking]

i think we should encourage the filiming of happy slapping. It saves money and is less intrusive than CCTV. We have had quite a few cases in the UK where teenagers have filmed themselves committing crimes, posted the video on the internet, the police have seen the video, come round and arrested the kid who is then convicted on the basis of his own video evidence. Result!

As a friend of mine who is a criminal barrister once remarked sadly, you would not BELIEVE how stupid the average criminal is. its a shame we can't criminalise stupidity really.

But what would we do without any political leadership?


Sorry couldn't help my self

[Banquo's Ghost]

It's another example of headline-driven governments trying to control the uncontrollable and thus avoiding having to address the root causes. Sarkozy really has learned from Blair, hasn't he?

Macworld highlighted an irony - the law was approved on the 16th anniversary of the filming of the beating of Rodney King. A similar recording would now be illegal in France.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence

By Peter Sayer, IDG News Service

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 on Tuesday.

The council chose an unfortunate anniversary to publish its decision approving the law, which came exactly 16 years after Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King were filmed by amateur videographer George Holliday on the night of March 3, 1991. The officers’ acquittal at the end on April 29, 1992 sparked riots in Los Angeles.

If Holliday were to film a similar scene of violence in France today, he could end up in prison as a result of the new law, said Pascal Cohet, a spokesman for French online civil liberties group Odebi. And anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of €75,000 (US$98,537), potentially a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act.

Senators and members of the National Assembly had asked the council to rule on the constitutionality of six articles of the Law relating to the prevention of delinquency. The articles dealt with information sharing by social workers, and reduced sentences for minors. The council recommended one minor change, to reconcile conflicting amendments voted in parliament. The law, proposed by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, is intended to clamp down on a wide range of public order offenses. During parliamentary debate of the law, government representatives said the offense of filming or distributing films of acts of violence targets the practice of “happy slapping,” in which a violent attack is filmed by an accomplice, typically with a camera phone, for the amusement of the attacker’s friends.

The broad drafting of the law so as to criminalize the activities of citizen journalists unrelated to the perpetrators of violent acts is no accident, but rather a deliberate decision by the authorities, said Cohet. He is concerned that the law, and others still being debated, will lead to the creation of a parallel judicial system controlling the publication of information on the Internet.

The government has also proposed a certification system for Web sites, blog hosters, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers, identifying them as government-approved sources of information if they adhere to certain rules. The journalists’ organization Reporters Without Borders, which campaigns for a free press, has warned that such a system could lead to excessive self censorship as organizations worried about losing their certification suppress certain stories.

I agree with EA - let the eejits provide the evidence themselves.

[BDC]

So what happens when CCTV films violence? Is it illegal now too?

Dumb politicians. Seriously, seriously dumb. How do they manage to feed themselves?

[Husar]

i think we should encourage the filiming of happy slapping. It saves money and is less intrusive than CCTV. We have had quite a few cases in the UK where teenagers have filmed themselves committing crimes, posted the video on the internet, the police have seen the video, come round and arrested the kid who is then convicted on the basis of his own video evidence. Result!

As a friend of mine who is a criminal barrister once remarked sadly, you would not BELIEVE how stupid the average criminal is. its a shame we can't criminalise stupidity really.

Well, my idea was that the guy who filmed the happy slapping can now be put in jail as well and cannot excuse himself by saying "I didn't take part, i just filmed it...".
I mean happy slapping is illegal as well and they still do it so I guess they will also keep filming it despite the law, like you said, they are sometimes incredibly stupid.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Apparently, there was a law passed against the filming of violence by anyone other than a journalist:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/apnews/st...464637,00.html

PARIS (AP) - A new law in France makes it a crime 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 effort by authorities to battle ``happy slapping,'' the youth fad of filming violent acts - which most often they have provoked - and spreading the images on the Web or between mobile phones.

Sorry for the belated reply. Paris' way of combating both the law and happy-slapping itself:

Anti-slapping!

The aim of anti-slapping is, primarily, as its name suggests, to actively oppose happy slapping. In reply to video images depicting violent acts, we’ve produced and are broadcasting images showing gestures of respect and kindness towards others using the same protocols and technical means as the happy slappers do. These images are shown on the Internet site, on the blog and information is spread by word of mouth. Cellphones, TV , magazines and newspapers also aim at making us question filmed violence, those who indulge in it, those who watch it ,without forgetting those who are indignant and those who don’t accept it.

The anti-slappers’ challenge is to show their films as widely as possible until they reach the point whereby people who indulge in or watch happy slapping are sensitized, this particulary concerns adolescents who appear to be the most concerned by this phenomenon.

Link in English to more videos. My other link above is French, but far more interesting. If you scroll halfway down there, there are some better videos.