This article was published on June 11, 2008

French Minister asks Internet users to help fight child pornography


French Minister asks Internet users to help fight child pornography

French politicians have proved that they aren’t afraid to try regulating the web. After adopting a bill that made anorexia promoting websites illegal last April, France now plans to block websites which depict child pornography. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie asked the help of both ISP’s and Internet users to “protect children and their families from pedophiles”.


Michele Alliot-Marie

Reuters reports that Alliot-Marie’s want to make it possible for Internet users to flag sites that carry child pornography, incitement to terrorism, racial hatred, or attempted fraud. This information is used to create a blacklist, which ISP’s have promised to obey. When a site isn’t hosted in France, the info is passed on to international police agencies Europol and Interpol.

I find it interesting that the French government uses the crowd to trace some of the Internet’s most disgusting content, yet I hope it’s done in a 2.0 style. If people have to fill in two forms and sign them, the whole operation will be pretty useless. A website with a three text fields-form or even better, a bookmarklet, will be more effective alternatives to fight child pornography.

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