I love everything about what we’ve come to know as the “social media.” To think that, with the necessary motivation and lack of any other more-pressing business to attend to, I can write and publish almost anything I want, and the whole world can read it.
In particular, I like the fact that the traditional media now have to worry about the social media “watchdog.” Following the “Rathergate” scandal in 2004, the traditional media knows they have to be a lot more careful, because the social media might get ‘em.
In France however, the social media were recently brought down a notch. A new law makes it a crime for anyone who is not a professional journalist to film and distribute violent images on the Internet.
It’s part of an effort of the French government to fight “happy slapping.” Happy slapping is a trend in France and Britain, where young whippersnappers provoke acts of violence, film the acts, then distribute the video and images on the Internet and mobile phones.
I remember when I was younger, I smoked once.
Anyway, on its face, the law may seem like a good idea. Maybe if you outlaw the motive for the violence, you can stop the violence.
Sounds a lot like outlawing possession of cash and valuables to stop robberies from happening.
Thing is, even if this law is effective, it will also hurt the social media. I’m talking about those instances where someone might film an act of police brutality, or other violent act commited under the color of law. The Internet may be the only channel available.
This law just doesn’t make any sense.
There are three main reasons I don’t like this law:
- It doesn’t apply to the traditional media. The social media just got their feet in the door, and now France is pushing them back out. Once someone’s made progress, you can’t push him back. That’s a law, I just invented it. Also, what makes “professional” journalists better than “social” journalists?
- It’s unnecessary. French authorities say there have been only 20 cases of happy slapping in France. They acknowledge, however, that there could be “countless” others. Do we really need any kind of over-reaching law to respond to 20 criminal acts within an entire country?
- Happy slapping is not an issue of communication, speech or expression. Therefore, an intrusion on speech rights is not the answer.
At the heart of it, happy slapping is an issue of criminal violence. Regardless of what restrictions you place on communication, the violence will still take place. This an issue best left for law enforcement to deal with.
It seems to me it would be a pretty easy issue for the gendarmerie to deal with. I mean, don’t the perpretrators distribute the evidence against them on the Internet, for the whole world to see?
