Loppsi 2 bill passes the French Constitutional Council test

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Deutsch: [Loppsi 2 besteht Prüfung im Französischen Verfassungsrat | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.6_Frankreich_Verfassungsrat_prueft_Loppsi2]

On 10 March 2011, the French Constitutional Council issued its decision on
the LOPPSI 2 law considering 13 of its articles as unconstitutional but
ruling that the controversial article 4, allowing the censoring of the
Internet under the pretext of fighting child pornography, was not in
contradiction with the Constitution.

The court failed to protect freedom of expression by not striking out
the infamous article 4 presented in the noble light of the fight against
online child pornography: “This decision about article 4 is a great
disappointment. It is obvious that Internet censorship will not help solve
the child pornography problem in any way, as experiments in other countries
have shown. After HADOPI’s Internet access suspension measures, calls to
ban WikiLeaks hosting and recent talks against Net Neutrality, France is
siding ever more within the group of countries hostile to a free Internet by
adopting administrative filtering of the Internet”, stated Jérémie
Zimmermann, co-founder and spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net.

According to Félix Tréguer, policy and legal analyst of La Quadrature du
Net, the hope now lies in the hands of the European institutions. “The EU
Parliament is currently trying to supervise blocking measures adopted at the
national level, which could impede their implementation in France. Moreover,
administrative Net filtering seems contrary to the European Convention on
Human Rights, and one can expect an appeal before European judges”

Having in view the censoring legislation it has lately adopted, such as
Hadopi and Loppsi 2 laws which introduce Internet blocking and excessive
surveillance measures, France has found its place on the list of countries
with a high level of surveillance, as determined by Reporters without
Borders.

The Loppsi 2 law was promulgated by the French President and published in
the Official Journal on 15 March 2011.

Loppsi 2 promulgated (only in French, 15.03.2011)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2011/03/15/97001-20110315FILWWW00311-loisecurite-interieure-promulgation.php

Decision no. 2011-625 DC of the Constitutional Council on the Law of
orientation and programming for the interior security performance (only in
French, 10.03.2011)
http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/conseil-constitutionnel/francais/les-decisions/acces-par-date/decisions-depuis-1959/2011/2011-625-dc/decision-n-2011-625-dc-du-10-mars-2011.94924.html

Text of the Loppsi 2 (only in French, 15.03.2011)
http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000023707312&fastPos=1&fastReqId=1447818568&categorieLien=id&oldAction=rechTexte

French Constitutional Council Validates Internet Censorship (11.03.2011)
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/french-constitutional-council-validates-internet-censorship

France the enemy of the Internet? No, but a country to survey according to
RSF (only in France, 14.03.2011)
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/la-france-ennemie-d-internet-non-mais-pays-a-surveiller-selon-rsf-39758987.htm

World day against cyber-censorship (12.03.2011)
http://march12.rsf.org/en/

France: Loppsi 2 adopted – Internet filtering without court order
(23.02.2011)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.4/web-blocking-adopted-france-loppsi-2