In the Name of the Law Stop, in the Name of Penal Code Section 227-23, You”™ re Under Arrest!
Voilà , the secret weapon French authorities used to launch the heaviest action yet against the Internet in France.

The results of the “round-up” by the SRP (Paris Investigative Section) of the National Gendarmerie (Police) Monday, May 6: 48 hours of detention for the administrators of two of the largest Internet Service providers in France, FranceNet and World-Net. As icing on the cake, the police confiscated some computer equipment.

“à¬m shocked by the violence and the arbitrariness of this procedure,” FranceNet”™s chief executive declared to the French daily, Le Monde.

Section 227-23 of the Penal Code punishes acts related to pornography involving minors, especially children. It is such pornography that FranceNet and World-Net, as companies, are accused of”¦ of what? Oh, no, you must understand, they are not accused of having produced this material. What they are accused of doing is transporting the messages of a substantial number of Usenet groups from the RAIN server (better known as Transpac, a subsidiary of France Telecom, the national telecommunications company) and making them available to their clients. In particular, the distribution of the newsgroups “alt.binaries.picture.erotica.*” is apparently criminal. RAIN”™s officers have not been questioned or bothered in any way and continue to distribute these newsgroups.

Obviously this strong-arm intervention solves none of the problems of pornography on the Internet. Even politicians and magistrates know that a subscriber can almost effortlessly use news servers almost anywhere in the world and that closing two outlets (FranceNet and World-Net) is utterly useless.

This “example” was set at the same time as a large conference on the Internet opened in Paris. What example? Stationing police behind every modem? Exterminating, more or less capriciously, the “dark” corners of the Internet? Keeping a blacklist of the good and the bad? Setting up a system to watch and examine everything that circulates through the Internet, private or commercial? Inviting Big Brother into the den or family room or office of everyone with a computer?

The villains of this story, FranceNet and World-Net, are two independent corporations, of some weight, certainly, but minuscule in comparison to the juggernauts and giants now arriving on the Internet. Among others, since May 2 (a coincidence?) France Telecom, by its subsidiary FTI. What our villains do not do is censor what is distributed, as some others decide, more or less arbitrarily, what is “good” and “bad” to read.

We might then wonder whether FranceNet and World-Net have been targeted because they violated section 227-23 of the Penal Code or because they are annoying gnats detracting attention from more traditional corporations. In any case, this sin might end up costing these two executives a lot: they are subject to three years in prison and a 500,000 franc ($100,000.) fine.

The French Internet community reacted rapidly to this unilateral censorship. Most of the ISPs have closed their Usenet service in protest. The newsgroup “fr.network.internet” has received a constant stream of protest articles. Many Home Pages are dressed in black backgrounds as a sign of mourning, with a French flag at half mast. Substitute news servers have sprung up all over the Web. The electronic mail boxes of French authorities are filling up with countless protest messages, and those of the two administrators, with messages of support.

The first results of this Black Monday have started crossing borders”¦

And you, the reader: consider this message as “another news source”, different from the classic media, spread it everywhere you can, to the best of your ability. A message from Cybernauts and citizens who are rising up against all forms of censorship, against all the forms of control that are being set up slowly but surely on the Net. This story has already happened, yesterday in the US, today in France, tomorrow perhaps in some other European country”¦

Don”™t forget, this could also happen to you”¦ Oh yes it could.

Giuseppe Salza (giusal@worldnet.fr) Philippe Buschini (philb@sct.fr)
Translated in English by Jo Ann Cahn