Proverbial

Ever wondered why so many people say it’s a bad thing to let the government decide who is or isn’t a journalist? Look no further than - where else? - France:

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.

Not only that, anyone who publishes said material may face up to five years in prison and nearly U$ 100.000 in fines, which may just as well be a much harsher sentence than the one for those who commited the violent act in the first place. And so, in order to supposedly prevent happy slapping, the government guarantees thugs, robbers and even crooked cops won’t have to worry about a citizen covertly filming their wrongdoings, nor any newspaper being interested in publishing the story.

Not to mention how such a broad definition as “violent act” leaves room for plenty of abuse. You could easily record something harmless with a cell phone, edit it in your computer, upload it to YouTube with a bogus account over some anonymous network, and next thing you know your ex-wife’s new boyfriend gets to spend some time in jail. Plenty of potential for blackmail, as well.

And I wonder how long it’ll be before the French government sues YouTube for publishing such material (no DMCA there), and ends up banning access to the site when they refuse to pay the fines. Who knows, this might even spur a black market for press credentials, or journalists covering up for citizens in exchange for their material.

What gets me really worried, though, is that this is the exact type of reasoning behind things like the wretched “apology to crime” law we have in Brazil. Who knows how long before some brilliant legislator decides to propose a similar law around here.