THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT has buckled under pressure and approved the Sarkozy government's authoritarian plans to censor the Internet.

The government opposed all objections to its plans to filter Internet sites, which have been controversial throughout French society. Today La Quadrature du Net, a French openness group, said that the action would give the government total control over its citizens' access to the Internet. It added that Nicholas Sarkozy was using excuses to clear a path for his rules, whch ultimately would come at the expense of liberty.

In a statement it said that the announcement had come out during a debate over the planned French security bill (LOPPSI), adding that during discussons the government "opposed all the amendments seeking to minimize the risks attached to filtering Internet sites."

Jérémie Zimmermann, a spokesperson for La Quadrature du Net, said that any censorship should have been trialled before being approved, explaining, "The refusal to enact Net filtering as an experimental measure is a proof of the ill-intended objective of the government. Making Net filtering a temporary measure would have shown that it is uneffective to fight child pornography."

"Protection of childhood is shamelessly exploited by Nicolas Sarkozy to implement a measure that will lead to collateral censorship and very dangerous drifts."

Liberté, égalité, fraternité indeed. It's almost enough to make one wonder if St Helena island is still in French hands. µ