France’s browser-based website blocking proposal will set a disastrous precedent for the open internet – Open Policy & Advocacy
blog.mozilla.org
Article 6 (para II and III) of the SREN Bill would force providers to create the means to mandatorily block websites on a government provided list encoded into the browser.

In a well-intentioned yet dangerous move to fight online fraud, France is on the verge of forcing browsers to create a dystopian technical capability.

This move will overturn decades of established content moderation norms and provide a playbook for authoritarian governments that will easily negate the existence of censorship circumvention tools.

  • kbity@kbin.social
    1·
    1 year ago

    Article 6 (para II and III) of the SREN Bill would force browser providers to create the means to mandatorily block websites present on a government provided list.

    These are the kind of provisions that totalitarian regimes would absolutely benefit from and make regular use of if France or another “western democracy” forced browser developers to develop it. Consider the role that the internet has had in popular uprisings of the last 15 years and its utility for accessing information that oppressive governments want to hide from their citizens.

    It might not be as bad as Vichy France or the Rassemblement National, but these provisions definitely pose a major threat to global freedom and would be a gift to the likes of China, Iran and Russia (and I’m sure plenty of US state legislatures would use this for their own ends, looking at you Florida).