France has just passed a new law that makes it a crime for anyone to film real-world violence and distribute the images on the internet. Violators will be subject to up to five years in prison and nearly $100,000 US in fines.
Happy slapping is a fad in which an unsuspecting victim is attacked while an accomplice records the assault (commonly with a camera phone or a smartphone). The name can refer to any type of violent assault, not just slapping, even rape and sexual assaults have been classified as “happy slapping” by the media. Within the UK, where the term is used much more frequently than in the U.S., it is associated with the ned/chav sub-culture. — Wikipedia
Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said it understood the government’s need to crack down on “happy slapping,” but feared the law draws a “dangerous” distinction that would punish “regular citizens” for doing what journalists are allowed to do.
