Promoted by the Delegate Minister for the Digital Transition, Jean-Noël Barrot, the bill aimed at “securing and regulating the digital space” wants to better secure the Web. From online hate to access to pornographic sites to the prevention of scams, the text will be presented this May 10 in the Council of Ministers, then proposed before the summer in the Senate, before a possible final approval in the National Assembly.
digital banishment
A condemnation in real life, but also on social networks. The text proposes that acts of harassment on a social network lead to the prohibition of access to the platform in question.
The responsibility of prohibiting would be entrusted to the platforms. Thus, Twitter, Facebook or even Instagram could be forced to block the account used, but also to block old accounts and the possibility of creating new ones. The sanction, ordered by a judge, will last six months and up to one year in case of recidivism.
The whole question remains the chosen modus operandi. A blacklist of prohibited users could be drawn up, including their email address. However, with a high risk of circumvention, a few seconds are enough to create a new email address. While blocking via IP address would condemn the entire household instead of the targeted person. A sanction already abandoned in the time of Hadopi.
Protection of minors against pornography
In order to strengthen the protection of minors against pornographic content, the government grants new powers to the Audiovisual and Digital Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcom).
The Authority can block or remove from search engines a pornographic site that does not prohibit the access of minors to its content, without going through a judge. Thus, if the site has not verified the age of the user, the user will be blocked and will incur a fine of up to 4% of the billing.
Legal proceedings are already underway, targeting in particular the giants of the sector Pornhub or XVideos. It should lead to a court decision on July 7. With the adoption of the new text, such judicial decisions would no longer be necessary: Arcom would have a free hand to block all sites that distribute pornographic content without age verification… starting with Twitter.
Anti-scam filter
This device aims to act upstream of the threat. When a user is about to click on a link identified as malicious, a warning message will appear on the screen.
It is particularly fraudulent SMS that are targeted. The stated goal is to fight scams like personal training accounts or fake connection to sites like Ameli.
For the device to work, telecommunication operators will be responsible for creating a red list of fraudulent sites, collecting personal data or even payment scams.
Then it will be up to the players in the ecosystem to fulfill their mission. The addresses of the fraudulent sites can be transmitted to the providers of Internet access to configure the blocking of the sites in question. With one main question: how to be reactive enough to prevent scammers from committing their misdeeds.
Source: BFM TV
