The bill aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (known as SREN) is an opportunity for deputies to pull out all the stops in terms of more or less realistic proposals. One of them is certain to provoke controversy, since it involves nothing more and nothing less than banning VPNs for social networks!
The SREN bill will enter a new phase from next Tuesday, September 19. A special commission will be responsible for examining the text all week, in particular the various amendments tabled by the deputies to enrich the law. Some will be voted on, others not, but several of these proposals are sure to create a buzz.
An idea in the air
This is the case of this amendment from Mounir Belhamiti, Renaissance deputy (majority) of Loire-Atlantique, who quite simply wants force social networks to block Internet users “ if a connection from a virtual private network is detected “, in other words a VPN. The latter would therefore no longer be able to publish, comment or interact with the platform…
“ This amendment, like the spirit of the bill, aims to transpose existing rules in the physical world into the virtual world. », Explains the amendment. After recalling that if freedom of expression was a fundamental freedom, it must also be consistent with other freedoms and with respect for others.
Social networks cannot therefore constitute “ a lawless zone where freedom of expression is limitless “. In the case of the use of a VPN, the judicial services are unable to identify the perpetrators of crimes “ because the VPN blurs the possibility of identification “. QED: “ The amendment therefore aims to prohibit any user of a social network from publishing, commenting or interacting using a virtual private network. »…
Banning VPNs for social networks is an idea that has been floating around since the death of young Nahel, which provoked urban riots fueled by anonymous arson firefighters on Twitter and elsewhere. However, the solution proposed by this MP seems somewhat excessive… Moreover, as explained The Informedthis amendment may well not pass: VPNs are also used by the police or whistleblowers on these same social networks…
Source :
The Informed
