Imagine that you're the "Secretary of State for Family" in France, and you're caught fibbing on video. An indignant citizen then comments "Hou la menteuse" (Oh, the liar!) on the website. What do you do?
Why, you subpoena the Internet provider to get the commenter's IP address, obtain her identity, and sue her for "public insult towards a member of the ministry", of course!
That's what creepy politician Nadine Morano did to Dominique Broueilh in France. Her appalling suit inspired Sarkozy adviser Henri Guaino to suggest that scrutiny by ordinary citizens on the Internet represented "the beginnings of totalitarianism". Come to think of it, maybe he deserves the award.
Morano has since dropped the suit, and the comments on the website continue to pile up - the latest victim of the Streisand effect.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
houuo jeffery is a liar. she said, "hou, la menteuse"
Sorry about the typo. Fixed now.
"Come to think of it, maybe he (Guaino?) deserves the award."
I sense that you were trying to be cute, but I guess I'm missing the joke. Didn't Guaino say the right thing?
On a different note, this story reminds me of the Helen Jones Kelley / Joe the Plumber story.
Needless to say, I don't think scrutiny by citizens is totalitarianism. Brenda, perhaps you need to re-read the post or follow the link to the NYT article.
You find yourself in strange company on this one. I first read about it in an article by Denyse O'Leary at Uncommon Descent. However, it's possibly the first sensible thing she's said this year, so I don't blame you. Even she manages to be right occasionally.
I read about it in the New York Times first. As for Denyse O'Leary, she happens to be mostly right about freedom of speech issues - I'll give her that much.
Yes, a rereading helped! Big time.
What is more surprising than the fact that I learned about it at Uncommon Descent is that I didn't know about it before, as I live in France. However, the main story blew up here last June and has now largely evaporated (though maybe the New York Times story will reinvigorate it). I can't remember what I was doing last June that would have stopped me paying attention to it then.
I guess the American counterpart to Morano would be Representative Alan Grayson of Florida, who wants a blogger thrown in prison for five years:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM130_grayson-holder-complaint-121609-0013.html
Post a Comment