Justice rejects request to block pornographic sites in France – archyde

The Paris court on Friday, October 8, rejected the request to block several pornographic sites formulated by two associations for the protection of children. e-Enfance and La Voix de l’Enfant had both referred to the main French Internet service providers for interim relief, asking to ban access to the main pornographic sites, accusing them of not doing enough to prevent minors to access content reserved for adults.

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Nine pornographic sites were concerned: Pornhub, Mrsexe, Iciporno, Tukif, Xnxx, Xhamster, Xvideos, Youporn and Redtube. They were criticized for simply asking their visitors to click on a button to confirm on their honor that they are of age. The two child protection associations at the origin of this lawsuit were based on a recent legislative change rendering these protections null and void.

A legislative change

Indeed, the law of July 30, 2020 aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence contains a section on access to pornographic sites. According to this text, it is no longer sufficient to request a simple declaration of majority, which places most free pornographic sites in violation (punishable by a fine of 375,000 euros).

The main French Internet service providers, SFR, Orange, Free, Bouygues Telecom and Colt Technology Telecom, intended for businesses were brought before the Paris court on September 9. The latter had stood up against this summons, believing that the action should be aimed primarily at the publishers or hosts of the pornographic sites concerned, which the judicial court also underlined on Friday to justify its decision.

During the hearing, the lawyer for associations for the defense of children’s rights, Mr.e Laurent Bayon recalled that access providers had been directly assigned to the impossibility of identifying the editors of pornographic sites. The nine sites concerned were listed in the summary proceedings, with each lacking any legal notices or means of tracing back to the identity of one of the people behind the platform. Contacted by The world, Me Bayon regretted the rejection of his clients’ requests, again highlighting the opacity surrounding the publishers of pornographic sites, companies, he said, “Who consider that they do not have to respect the criminal law”. “The court chose the path of inefficiency”, reacted the lawyer of e-Enfance and La Voix de l’Enfant.

Chance of the calendar, a long-awaited implementing decree was published on Friday Official newspaper. This text specifies in particular the terms of application of the law of July 30, 2020, which gives the Superior council of audio-visual (CSA) the power to open an instruction and to put in residence the pornographic sites which do not sufficiently control the access of minors to their contents. Seized at the beginning of the year by three associations for the protection of children, the CSA has already opened an instruction concerning several pornographic sites. If they persist in not introducing new mechanisms for controlling the majority of their visitors, the audiovisual “gendarme” would then have the possibility of taking legal action himself to request the blocking of the platforms concerned.

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