France bans citizen journalists from reporting violence

Yahoo! News ^ | 03/06/2007 | Peter Sayer

[amchugh]

We all know the French basically suck on issues like this, but there is an unwritten law about filming police in this country too. If you do, you are either going to get your ass kicked, or get charged with something trumped up like stalking.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1785722/posts

[TheDon]

When you get arrested for violating CFR, let me know.

[ellery]

It's not just the Rats. :(

[JeffAtlanta]

When you get arrested for violating CFR, let me know.

What do you think happens when a person violates CFR? You think compliance is voluntary?

[TheDon]

I think it is unenforceable, and I do not think you need to worry about getting arrested for violating it. No one has to date.

[JeffAtlanta]

I think it is unenforceable, and I do not think you need to worry about getting arrested for violating it. No one has to date.

Why do you think it is unenforceable? It has already passed SCOTUS review.

[TheDon]

What 5v4, let's wait for a prosecution to decide this thing?

[Political Junkie Too]

So, instead of the French police cracking down on violence, the "youths" are now free to torch cars without fear of citizens recording them.

-PJ

[Leatherneck_MT]

Hitler is Alive and well in Europe.

[af_vet_rr]

So if im french and see something and maybe video tape it or take pictures of it then I cannot tell you about it or post the pictures or video for you to look at because I might accidently tell you the actual facts as I know them about what happened.

That's just ducky

Are you suggesting that somebody who did not go to journalism school knows what's going on around them?

How dare you think that just because you are able to breathe oxygen, you somehow have a right to tell others around you, what you have seen.

I'm not surprised, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happened here.

[freedom moose]

The law, proposed by Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, is intended to clamp down on a wide range of public order offenses.

So maybe Sarkozy isn't all that conservative? Or is it possible that he drafted a law and things got added on by other politicians? Because later it says:

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.

Does anyone have any more information on this law?

[Right Wing Assault]

So if a surveillance camera films violence, it must not be legal since the company that owns the camera or the building that is holding it is not a journalist. Cool!

[DreamsofPolycarp]

More likely the "family friendly" authoritarian nanny staters with FR.

Post that with flashing HTML next time, please. I have never seen so many self deluded fascists who congratulate themselves over being "conservative" as you will find nowadays among conservatives. They have no clue that conservativism (coined a word) STARTS with liberty, NOT with moralism. The conservativism of many freepers is a mishmash of traditional moralism, with a smattering of respect for the law and a willingness to cede just about ANYTHING to the state if it can prove that state power is wielded by "our guys."

That kind of "conservative" is about as potent as a spider web stopping a transfer truck when it comes to protecting liberty. The worst part is that they truly believe they are at the vanguard of resisting socialism and militant state sponsored atheism. I think if I hear one more blue haired geezer defend tyranny on the grounds that "if you don't break the law, you have nothing to worry about" I may just puke in the forum and see if the vomit shows up on anyone's screen but mine.