French government orders website block

[microrobert]

French government orders website block

The French authorities have used new powers to block five websites, which they claim condone terrorism, without a court order.

Internet service providers have 24 hours to comply.

The chairman of European Internet Service Provider OVH tweeted that his firm had not been given any warning.

The new powers apply to sites suspected of commissioning or advocating terrorism or distributing indecent images of children.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31904542


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CAIwTDHWMAAg6Qj.jpg:large

[LightHouse89]

freedom of speech unless it is against liberalism.

[microrobert]

France can now block suspected terrorism websites without a court order

Supporters say new measure is critical to combating terrorism, but civil rights groups fear crackdown on free speech

A new decree that went into effect today allows the French government to block websites accused of promoting terrorism and publishing child pornography, without seeking a court order. Under the new rules, published last week by France's Ministry of the Interior, internet service providers (ISPs) must take down offending websites within 24 hours of receiving a government order. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says the decree is critical to combatting terrorism, but civil rights groups say it gives the government dangerously broad powers to suppress free speech.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/9/8003907/france-terrorist-child-pornography-website-law-censorship

[European Knight]

France Expanding Spying on Phone, Internet in Anti-Terror Move

(Bloomberg) -- France plans to extend surveillance on phones and the Internet by its intelligence services as part of anti-terror legislation approved Thursday by the French cabinet.

The bill, which goes to parliament in April and should be approved by July, replaces a directive from 1991 -- an era when the Internet and mobile phones barely existed.

“We are faced with an unprecedented terrorist menace, but not only” that, Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters. “We must protect against espionage, industrial spying, and organized crime. The intelligence services are a priority for this government.”

While French police and intelligence sources tap mobile phones, intercept e-mails, and monitor websites, they have been doing so without a clear legal framework.

The law sets rules on how investigators can tap phone lines, locate people through mobile phones, intercept e-mails, take secret photographs, and enter homes to place microphones. Following terrorist attacks in Paris in January, the government said its intelligence services will hire an additional 2,680 people in the next three years.

“France is one of the last democracies not to have a framework law for all its intelligence services,” Valls said. “The government wants to put an end to this abnormal situation.”

Valls insisted the law isn’t a French version of the U.S. “Patriot Act” and that all surveillance would be approved and overseen by independent authorities. “There will be no mass surveillance,” he said.

The legislation would increase redress for people who believe they have been improperly monitored.

It also creates a new independent body overseeing surveillance activities, and for the first time gives France’s top administrative court the power to order an end to surveillance.

http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-NLGGT26K50XZ01-0RL1KVDA8C5RP1M2U0OHDRENKG