back to article Sarko to Schmidt & co: 'You can't escape' net regulation

French president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country has the G8 presidency this year, called for greater regulation of the internet today. Speaking at the e-G8 Forum in Paris, Sarkozy said more rules to police the net were needed to, among other things, help protect copyright law and prevent children from seeing harmful material …

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  1. There's a bee in my bot net

    Aaarrrrrrrgfgggghgghghghghhhhhh!!!!!!!

    Aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!! Just fucking Aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

    Vous et un idiot Misiour Sarkozy.

    1. Yag

      sigh

      En effet, c'est un idiot.

      French politicians have a very annoying habit of thinking of themselves as elected kings. DSK is a good example : He is well known for years for his inacceptable behavior, but as long as he was in France, it was easy to bury the scandals.

      Seems like it's getting time to use the good ol' solution : Off with their heads!

  2. The BigYin

    Er...

    "Liberté, égalité, fraternité"? Really?

    More like

    "Control, Restriction, Slavery"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sarcozy

      Is, and always has been, a control freak. He doesnt like people doing stuff that he doesnt know about.

      Why should his attitude to the internet be any different?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmm

    ""Nobody should forget that these governments are the only legitimate representatives of the will of the people in our democracies. To forget this is to risk democratic chaos and hence anarchy."

    Very typical view from the French political class.

    How about the stuff people do as representing their will?

  4. MJI Silver badge

    Not another one

    Haven't they heard the internet routes around any disruptions.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Why, then.

      No problem routing from Sarko's left ear to his right ear, then.

  5. BristolBachelor Gold badge
    FAIL

    In similar news

    The new WorldWide® "kitchen" regulations come into force today to prevent children from hurting themselves on sharp objects. All sharp objects (including scissors) must now be kept in a kitchen or workshop and all kitchens and workshops must be registered with worldwide authorities. Registered kitchens and workshops must be available for instant surprise inspections to ensure that children cannot access sharp objects.

    Arguments are still ongoing about the new "media room" regulations. Some countries disagree about what percentage of time a police officer must be in all registered media rooms to guard against copyright 'theft'. The US wants 100% police presence 24 hours a day. Also some countries are unhappy that all rooms containing a music / video player or PC have to be registered as a media room, leading to issues where some dwellings may need a team of 5 or more police officers to guard them.

    How about this law "If it is illegal in the real world, then it is illegal on the internet" ?

    Sarkozy ≡ Fuckwit

  6. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Pint

    FFS!

    What the hell is Sarko's problem with the internet? He's obsessed with regulating and controlling it!

    FFS, you short-arsed git, haven't you got more important things to do like, I dunno, running a flipping a huge European country?!

    1. PT

      @Fuzzy

      FFS, Fuzzy, don't you understand that EVERY GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD is obsessed with regulating and controlling the Internet? Some may be more vocal about it than others, but they all share the same mortal terror of a communications channel they can't monitor and control.

    2. Jean-Luc
      Pint

      @ The Fuzzy Wotnot & what's Sarko problem?

      Sarkozy's problem is not with the internet. Not at all.

      It is with his poll numbers.

      Grandstanding and making it sound as if France can decide what the world should be doing is one way to attract voters.

      1. Jimmy 1

        Our moral guardians.

        The two leading proponents of internet regulation just happen to be experiencing some local difficulty with their re-election prospects caused in part by their deregulation of the greediest section of society. Naturally, their response to this impending disaster is to impose full-on regulation of the one medium that allows the bien-pensants to freely express their contempt for politicians and other self-serving 'saviours of the nation'.

        On the one hand we have a French dwarf with primped up hair, high-heels and a trophy wife to enhance his stature, while on the other hand we have a corpulent Italian whore-master who is currently being investigated for alleged corruption, Mafia collusion, police bribery and tax fraud.

        And it is grotesques like these who think they are entitled to regulate the internet?

        In your dreams, sweethearts.

  7. Anonymous Bosch

    Goose meat Gander

    I would have thought that governments have a moral imperative to be honest and forthcoming to their voters, so that they could listen and respond accordingly to the democratic process.

    Oh crud - I've forgotten to take my morning meds....

  8. Alien Doctor 1.1

    Get off yer box sarky...

    oh, sorry, you already have.

    What a bastard - how on earth did Bruni end up marrying that de-shelled snail? (Not that she is that much better).

    If they wish to drive internet democracy undergorund then they are doing exactly what needs to be done; these petty-minded, short-sighted bureaucrats are doing more harm to their own causes than good - long may they not live.

  9. K. Adams
    WTF?

    "...governments are the only legitimate representatives of the will of the people..."

    I would say that the people are the legitimate representatives of the will of the people.

    Most modern Western-style democracies and republics are based on "Rule By Consent of The People" (At least, in theory... In practice, maybe not so much.)

    However, it would be (from a practicality standpoint) very, very difficult to regulate the Internet into submission.

    Technology evolves too quickly for legislation to stay abreast; even the Great Firewall of China is riddled with easily exploitable holes, the 09F9 AACS encryption key controversy demonstrated the futility of battling the Streisand Effect, the "CTB Super-Injunctions" have been effectively nullified by Twitterers @large, and WikiLeaks is still in operation, despite attempts to limit its operations through various means. In short: "Can't stop the signal, Mal..."

    The best way to "regulate" the Internet is to educate people, starting with Primary education, on how to use it responsibly and safely, show them how to protect their privacy and personal information while using online services, and demonstrate the dangers of carelessness.

  10. Bakunin
    Grenade

    Anarchy?

    Anarchy is actually one of the things I like most about the internet (who would have guessed). Anarchy doesn't have to mean bad.

    People are talking and sharing and changing more. It's not an over night revolution, but it is putting more of a voice and a distribution network into the hands of the average person. Rather than spending money on control and pacifying and locking things down we should be putting that money into getting more of the world to connect and ... I don't know ... talk to each other?

    Nearly every single political sound bite about the internet that I've heard over the last decade seems to live in the shadow of "I don't quite get it, but it scares me".

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    remind me

    Remind me, because I really don't know, but could you list me some global French computing/media or internet businesses? Is vivendi French?

    1. MarkieMark1
      Black Helicopters

      Amadeus

      the travel booking system, is based in France; the French national research lab, INRIA, regularly produces ground-breaking work; however it is fair to say that the French grasp of the internet is 'different'

      Bringing me to the main bone of contention; that many people feel that we need to stop internet fraud somehow; not, it must be said, the way the Sarkozys of this world would stop it, although as I say, somehow.

  12. Maty

    Nope

    The will of the people is not always the will of the government. As demonstrated by the unfulfilled will of the French people in recent opinion polls. I.e. that Sarkozy should flush himself down the nearest latrine and get out of their lives.

    If he really, really, wanted to know the 'will of the people' it would not be that hard to discover it.

    Set up a website with one question on the poll 'Are you in favour of a French-led initiative to regulate the internet? Yes/No'

    'Without fair dealing, what are governments but huge robberies?' (Tacitus, Roman historian 1st century AD.)

  13. Sam Liddicott

    In other words...

    ... in other words, if we don't have a minimum set of rules, the proles will forget who's in charge!

  14. Luther Blissett

    Sarko tips hat to fellow Frenchman

    > "Nobody should forget that these governments are the only legitimate representatives of the will of the people in our democracies."

    Baudrillard could not have put it better - but only in the hyperreal.

    All too palpably for those being subjected to state terror in the name of "democracy".

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      FAIL

      Not represented

      I can vote for A or B, however A ≡ B, and I want C.

      A or B wins (remember A ≡ B anyway, but I want C). How am I legitimately represented?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    All invited

    According to his 'Welcome Note', even those who are "simply users of the Internet" are invited along to give their views. I wonder if we would really all be welcome? I don't think so.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You're all forgetting...

    ... the golden rule about French rules.

    Rules apply to everyone else, but never to you.

    Applies to no parking areas, no smoking areas, no internet areas...

  17. Cyfaill
    Megaphone

    What he is really saying

    I'm scared of a changing world... were Governments play a less significant role... because people might discover that communication has unified humanity and Nationalism is more destructive than helpful.

    Regulation keeps us in power and the people of the world, powerless and controlled.

    Of course it really is more complicated than that reduction... but jerks like this just make me mad at their ignorance. Perhaps they aren't ignorant.

    Have you noticed the most regulated internet from the government are also the most restricted populations. Let Freedom be Freedom.

  18. Wang N Staines

    someone once said...

    "In my lifetime all our problems have come from mainland Europe and all the solutions have come from the English-speaking nations across the world"

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Danger from anarchy?

    well, Thomas Jefferson was also called an anarchist and things didn't turn out so bad

    "Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual."

    "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all."

    "The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    It's That Time Again

    Guillotine time!

  21. Tom 35

    Do the world a favour and piss off

    "governments are the only legitimate representatives"

    Governments? I only remember voting for one, and even then they seem to be more interested in representing corporations then me. Are we to remove everything someone dose not like?

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