Au Blog, Citoyens

Posted by: Heather Green on June 21

The French daily paper, Libération, did a front page story today on blogging and wrote about Christophe Grébert, a blogger who has been charged with defaming the municipal government in the Paris suburb where he lives. Via Loic Le Meur.

Grébert’s offense: posting photos of local authorities demolishing a building where squatters lived, along with text accusing them of human-rights violations. He was scheduled to go to trial today, but he writes that that has now been pushed back to February.

Our Paris bureau chief says that blogging is catching on like wildfire, but that since there is no First Amendment in France, blogging could be even riskier there than in the States (Though little has been settled on this front.)

If you’re a blogger in France or Europe, is this the kind of thing that you are worried about?

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Reader Comments

Sam Sugar

June 21, 2005 03:12 PM

As a Euro (that's about a buck fifty to you Americans) I have to say "No - I'm not concerned about freedom of speech."

Europe lacks a clearly defined constitution and it's a tragedy. However, as the Patriot Act shows, the US Constitution can be a document to stand behind while it's core tennets are being studiously undermined. European law is less specifically rooted in a central text, but just as boldly defended. Sometimes the lack of a 'standard' allows for a significantly more liberal view than that taken in America. Europe's outright prohibition on the death penalty's an example of this.

In short - though our rights are more easily abuse, by no means are they less vigoroursly, or successfully, defended.

Heather Green

June 21, 2005 03:32 PM

Two jibes in the same email! The currency jab, followed quickly by the Patriot Act crosscut! Good points and thanks for commenting.

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In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

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