7 ms·

France had an unfortunate history of self censorship from the media and active control of the public media from the president(de Gaulle that controlled the onl

by tttp 15y ago

France had an unfortunate history of self censorship from the media and active control of the public media from the president(de Gaulle that controlled the only TV channel, Mitterand ordering illegal wiretapping of journalists) The actual french President is a control freak. Sarkozy has strong relationship with most of the private media owners and is using it. He has since the start of his mandate tried to control the internet eg. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/may/13/france-three-strikes http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/may/13/france... He is (ab)using a common view in France that speech should be controlled and freedom of speech isn't absolute. For instance, it is illegal to make xenophobic or racists comments. La quandrature du net is doing a good job of exposing the latest of his attacks and, hopefully public pressure can shame him out of his willingness to control everything. He likes the French motto of "Liberty, equality fraternity". If enough people see him trying to replace the first one by censorship, he might be less aggressively trying. Fortunately, his approval rate is record low, part of this is likely due to his abuse of power and willingness to control everything. Unfortunately, the best opposant is currently accused of sexual abuse. Then, another member of the G8 is Italy, with Berlusconi as the president.... Interesting countries, all in all.

Typhon 15y ago
>actual The word you're looking for is "current". Let's have a little patience. We're getting rid of Sarkozy soon enough, but we need to find a suitable replacement. There's the rub.
- nuxi 15y ago
  > The word you're looking for is "current". "Actual" is a synonym for "current".
  - phaet0n 15y ago
    Sure, it's a synonym, but usage dictates it's incorrect to say "actual President" when you mean "current President", whereas "actual situation" is okay. The original context the writer is most certainly French where actuel means current, however the usage generates a false cognate.
  - sylvinus 15y ago
    no it's not? http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/actual http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/actual
    - swombat 15y ago
      In french, it's actually (!) more common to say "actuel" than "courrant". So I'm guessing the OP speaks french as a native language...?
      - tttp 15y ago
        Albeit spending most of my time speaking/thinking English, I'd have to confirm that French is my mother tongue. Well, swiss French, but close enough ;) And I meant to write about the current president indeed.
        swombat 15y ago
        Small world! Swiss french here too. (grew up in Geneva)
    - nuxi 15y ago
      I'm not a native English speaker (nor French), but other English dictionaries have "existing now or current" as one of the definitions for "actual": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/actual?show=0&t=1306065182 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/actual?show=0&... http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0007040#m_en_gb0007040 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0007040#m_en... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/actual http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/actual http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=actual&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=J_jYTceZO4Gf-Qav4JWfDw&ved=0CB4QkQ4 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=actual&tbs=dfn:... http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actual http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actual http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&search=actual http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/Dictionary...
      - Vivtek 15y ago
  - derleth 15y ago
    It's one of those instances where a synonym isn't actually (ha!) equivalent, and doesn't quite work the same way in the sentence. In this case, 'actual President' would contrast with some fake President running around, whereas 'current President' contrasts with the upcoming President.
nkassis 15y ago
You forgot Canada with Harper's government which is actively trying to push legislation that would allow the government to spy on internet traffic. So with Russia that's 4-8 G8 countries I'm pretty sure the other 4 are probably in league with this type of crap. No way to win.
- nazar 15y ago
  I don't think Russia needs approval from from G8 to control the internet traffic. I am not from Russia, but from one of the post soviet countries, so I can assure you things are run differently over here. Russia might seem to be one of the most democratic countries (among post soviet countries), but from the inside it is completely another story.
notaddicted 15y ago
Freedom of speech isn't a law of nature, and it wasn't handed down from God or whomever. In the United States it is provided by the Constitution. In Canada we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and hate speech is forbidden, for example, members of the Westboro Baptist Church are banned from Canada.
- DrJokepu 15y ago
  Actually, the US constitution does not provide any rights, it does assume that Freedom of Speech and other rights are inherently ours and it only limits the powers of the federal government.
  - ugh 15y ago
    Isn’t that a distinction without a difference?
- tttp 15y ago
  Didn't mean to imply it was, but in the US, it seems to be more permissive (ie. no matter how stupid and outrageous, you can say it) than in France. That's a general attitude about what is "allowed" to be said in the public sphere (a bit of a generalisation, but mostly confirmed on my biased sample of people I know on both countries). eg. when Chomsky said that Faurisson had the right to write whatever crap he wanted (ie. pro freedom of speech), it was widely understood in France as a support of Faurisson's theories (Haulocaust denial) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair Which is rather ironic in a country where Voltaire is said to have written "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

by tttp 15y ago

Typhon 15y ago

>actual The word you're looking for is "current". Let's have a little patience. We're getting rid of Sarkozy soon enough, but we need to find a suitable replacement. There's the rub.

nuxi 15y ago
> The word you're looking for is "current". "Actual" is a synonym for "current".
- phaet0n 15y ago
  Sure, it's a synonym, but usage dictates it's incorrect to say "actual President" when you mean "current President", whereas "actual situation" is okay. The original context the writer is most certainly French where actuel means current, however the usage generates a false cognate.
- sylvinus 15y ago
  no it's not? http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/actual http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/actual
  - swombat 15y ago
    In french, it's actually (!) more common to say "actuel" than "courrant". So I'm guessing the OP speaks french as a native language...?
    - tttp 15y ago
      Albeit spending most of my time speaking/thinking English, I'd have to confirm that French is my mother tongue. Well, swiss French, but close enough ;) And I meant to write about the current president indeed.
      - swombat 15y ago
        Small world! Swiss french here too. (grew up in Geneva)
  - nuxi 15y ago
    I'm not a native English speaker (nor French), but other English dictionaries have "existing now or current" as one of the definitions for "actual": http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/actual?show=0&t=1306065182 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/actual?show=0&... http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0007040#m_en_gb0007040 http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0007040#m_en... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/actual http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/actual http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=actual&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=J_jYTceZO4Gf-Qav4JWfDw&ved=0CB4QkQ4 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=actual&tbs=dfn:... http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actual http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actual http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&search=actual http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/Dictionary...
    - Vivtek 15y ago
- derleth 15y ago
  It's one of those instances where a synonym isn't actually (ha!) equivalent, and doesn't quite work the same way in the sentence. In this case, 'actual President' would contrast with some fake President running around, whereas 'current President' contrasts with the upcoming President.

nkassis 15y ago

You forgot Canada with Harper's government which is actively trying to push legislation that would allow the government to spy on internet traffic. So with Russia that's 4-8 G8 countries I'm pretty sure the other 4 are probably in league with this type of crap. No way to win.

nazar 15y ago
I don't think Russia needs approval from from G8 to control the internet traffic. I am not from Russia, but from one of the post soviet countries, so I can assure you things are run differently over here. Russia might seem to be one of the most democratic countries (among post soviet countries), but from the inside it is completely another story.

notaddicted 15y ago

Freedom of speech isn't a law of nature, and it wasn't handed down from God or whomever. In the United States it is provided by the Constitution. In Canada we have the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and hate speech is forbidden, for example, members of the Westboro Baptist Church are banned from Canada.

DrJokepu 15y ago
Actually, the US constitution does not provide any rights, it does assume that Freedom of Speech and other rights are inherently ours and it only limits the powers of the federal government.
- ugh 15y ago
  Isn’t that a distinction without a difference?
tttp 15y ago
Didn't mean to imply it was, but in the US, it seems to be more permissive (ie. no matter how stupid and outrageous, you can say it) than in France. That's a general attitude about what is "allowed" to be said in the public sphere (a bit of a generalisation, but mostly confirmed on my biased sample of people I know on both countries). eg. when Chomsky said that Faurisson had the right to write whatever crap he wanted (ie. pro freedom of speech), it was widely understood in France as a support of Faurisson's theories (Haulocaust denial) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faurisson_affair Which is rather ironic in a country where Voltaire is said to have written "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".