2y ago

France’s browser-based website blocking proposal will set a disastrous precedent for the open internet

blog.mozilla.org

France’s browser-based website blocking proposal will set a disastrous precedent for the open internet – Open Policy & Advocacy

15 comments

Could you imagine what would happen if Google, Apple, Mozilla, etc said "okay, you just can't have a web browser in france"
- Either rioting in the streets or widespread adoption of some open-source niche browser. Or both.
  (If this passes, it's either going to go unenforced or hit massive legal challenges—not a lawyer, but I think it's incompatible with freedom of association, which appears to be a legal right in France.)
- The french government will just make their own web browser and we’ll be well on our way to the great firewall of france.
  
  French person here. If their previous attempts at creating anything digital are any indication of the future we are in for a fun ride. I fully expect them to implement the blocking by hiding the page behind a black png.
  
  So then would their access to the internet be french toast? Also, a governmyth designed browser, and we thought internet explorer was bad
- How would France even implement a way to restrict what version of software you download from the internet? IP based restrictions are easily defeated and this doesn't account for 3rd party sites based anywhere in the world except France.
  
  How would you get a browser without a browser though? Memorize the ff download link and wget it perhaps?
Yet again an example of (for some, not-so) old, control-freak farts that just don't understand the world they live in. The law proposal is entitled "Regulation of digital space". As if a country could regulate an international network.
Sometimes I'm really ashamed of our politicians.
- Yes it's possible to create a Great Firewall around your country, just look at China.
  I just really hope France isn't going in that direction.
Is that even feasible? I mean wouldn't there instantly be dozen of chromium and firefox forks with the list redirected or removed?
Firefox and Chromium are both open source. If they implement the site blocking, someone will fork the browser and remove the blocking from it.
- You don't even need to do that though. It would be the "fork" that contains the blocking, surely.
When your community wants to de-federate everything:

15 comments