28.01.2015 - 12:49 [ Techdirt ]

France Announces Plans To Hold The Internet Responsible For Terrorism

And on it goes. In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, much of the world rallied around a French magazine‘s free speech right to publish controversial text and images concerning Islam, a major world religion. Since that solidarity was expressed, France has strategically sought to undermine its own support of free expression through some of the most arcane law enforcement actions concerning speech to date. From arresting comedians, to threats against news organizations, all the way to stepping into the muck with a bunch of racist idiots, France has shown that it‘s not a country that defends free and open speech — but rather one that only defends the speech with which it agrees. But if any of that troubled you, you may be disappointed to learn that it was only the precursor to a full on attack on free speech on the internet.