Anthere wrote:
Rick a écrit:
Where would you suggest? In France, it's illegal to criticize the government. In Germany, it's illegal to display Nazi memorabilia. In the UK there's the Official Secrets Act to deal with.
RickK
May I *seriously* suggest that you consider avoiding libel and comments that might anger your peers RickK ?
Well, according to the World Press Freedom Committee's document "Insult Laws: A Insult to Press Freedom" (http://www.wpfc.org/site/docs/pdf/Publications/Insult%20Laws-An%20Insult%20t...):
"...the primary form of this crime became known as 'insult to the president of the republic,' whose classic form was set in the French press law of 1881. It remains the basic press legislation in France today. The 1881 law also carries serious penalties for insulting foreign chiefs of state, foreign ministers or ambassadors of friendly countries, and official bodies like parliament, the judiciary, and armed forces... Similar provisions are on the books in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain."
The report goes on to note that the French law was last actually used under Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s, when a spectator was arrested for crying out "hoo hoo" at him. More recently the Sun was threatened with a lawsuit for insulting Chirac, though this never materialized.
The report also notes that the French law has served as an example for many laws in other countries, especially less-developed countries, and especially former French colonies, that *are* enforced, and those countries defend their law under "well, France has such laws, so why shouldn't we?"
So "illegal to criticize" is going too far, but it's not entirely without basis either.
-Mark