Here's some information in english about a recent action carried by PRINT against a new french law proposal that might just destroy Internet as we know it (and use it!) now. See the "call" for some information about the law, the report for an account of what we did, and photos to get a better view :) Some quick links: - photos : http://print.squat.net/move.html#photos - flyers (fr): http://print.squat.net/move.html#tracts - poster (fr): http://print.squat.net/move.html#affiche - details (fr): http://print.squat.net/move.html#dev CALL FOR A DEMONSTRATION IN DIJON AGAINST "LEN" The french government is about to pass a new law called "LEN" ("Loi sur l'Economie Numérique" == "Law on Digital Economy"). In other words, this could be the end of the Internet. This law will hold Internet Service Providers responsible for contents hosted on their servers by users. It aims at turning technicians into police officers, by forcing them to endorse a censorship policy. If they refuse to do so, they can be put to court and face charges. It is clear that such measures will be fatal to independent providers, as well as non-commercial Internet structures, since they won't be able to afford the high expenses trials involve. If LEN is applied, it could lead to the suppression of forums, blogs, wikis, open-publishing, collaborative websites and other online spaces of freedom of expression hosted in France. These are the roots of the Internet, thanks to which the Internet has been a tool for sharing, for collective creativity and alternative information. With such a liberticide law, numerous people will be tempted to move their sites to other countries. But LEN would also allow the government to filter and prevent access to some contents, thus meaning state control over the whole Internet. As of now, only non-democratic countries such as China and Birmania have carried such totalitarian measures. For these reasons, we call all Internet users and conscious individuals to resist, in order to save (and develop!) an Internet of freedom. Many people ranging from peer-to-peer users to webmasters have already expressed their anger on the networks, but there's now a strong need to take resistance out of the virtual, onto the streets! We should show our determination to stop this disgusting law, and inform widely about its consequences. Let's meet on... SATURDAY, MARCH 6TH, 3PM - FRANCOIS RUDE SQUARE, DIJON FOR A DEMONSTRATION "AGAINST LEN, FOR A FREE INTERNET" ...an initiative of the PRINT collective (http://print.squat.net/en/) + miscellaneous angry Internet users & actors. Contact: print@squat.net. For more information about LEN, see http://www.odebi.org/. A demonstration against LEN ("Loi sur l'Economie Numérique" == Law on Digital Economy") and in favour of freedom of expression on the Internet took place in Dijon on March 6th. It was organized by the PRINT autonomous computer collective (http://print.squat.net/en/), which runs a weekly open-access space and serves as a hacklab, allowing geek and activist cultures to meet. At 3pm, about forty people gathered on François Rude square in central Dijon. They deployed a banner saying "contre la LEN, pour l'Internet libre" (against LEN, for a free Internet"), and set up a sculpture. The sculpture was made up of computer screen covered with fake blood and barred with an X. Some papers showing URLs of websites endangered by LEN (no-log.org, wikipedia.org, indymedia.org...) were displayed around the sculpture as well. This symbolic construction was meant to portray the "murder of the Internet" which LEN involves. This raised interest within passers-by, who expressed curiosity towards the goals of the demonstration. Some 1000 flyers were distributed ("LEN: décryptage d'une démolition programmée" == "LEN: decryption of a scheduled demolition"), and various speeches were made: LEN and its consequences were explained, and so was the concept of "free Internet", with a short introduction to its alternative contents (wikis, contributive websites, open-publishing spaces, and miscellaneous collaborative tools). A "geek-batukada" accompanied and emphasized the demonstration, armed with binary drums (decorated with some 0 and 1) and various noise-making tools (such as a computer case used as a rudimentary instrument :)), and dressed in militant-geek fashion (with network cards, flashy keyboards and cables around the neck). Forty-five minutes later, some twenty demonstrators who had stayed despise the cold formed a small contingent to walk the streets, shouting slogans such as "contre la censure, Internet libre" ("against censorship, for a free Internet"), "pas de censure sur nos disques-durs" ("no censorship on our hard-disks"), "mes mails, j'veux pas qu'l'État s'en mêle" ("I don't want the state to mess with my mails"), or "on veut créer, pas consommer" ("we want to create, not consume"). The demonstration finally stopped in front the of the "Préfecture de Côte d'Or" (regional instance of the state) to "thank" it for its careful work in suppressing digital freedom. To make it clear to everyone, demonstrators unloaded the "bloody-screen-pile" right in front of the entrance. Some last words were said on the microphone, calling people to renew the mobilization and inciting to export it to other cities. Then, demonstrators split, leaving the Préfecture alone with its disgraceful "present". As a conclusion, this was a positive action, even though it was attended by only a few locals. It created a visible space for LEN-related problems and Internet censorship issues, allowed good communication with some people and spread some information to passers-by. Most importantly, it showed that it is non-only possible to organize a demonstration against LEN, but that it can also be fun to carry creative actions! Various documents (call, flyers, poster...) as well as photos of the demonstration can be found online, on http://print.squat.net/move.html. For more information, comments and ideas, please get in touch at print@squat.net