The Liberty of Communication Act was introduced to place
liability for the content of a web site on the individual posting
it, rather than on the company which hosts the site. It has now
been amended to avoid one of its most controversial provisions,
namely the loss of anonymity for those publishing materials
on-line.
The original terms of the proposed law said that content
providers must acquire the accurate identities of those posting on
the internet with their service. If the information was not
accurate, both ISPs and users would have been legally responsible
for the content.
Following pressure from civil liberty and internet interest
groups, the French Senate has now amended the law such that ISPs
are not legally required to confirm the identity of a person
posting to the internet. The individual must complete an
identification form, but this is already requested by almost all
French hosting companies. However, the Act still requires ISPs to
filter illegal content from their servers.
