As I was watching CURRENT TV today they said France made it illegal for citizens to video violence.

I couldn't find much onine but I did find the following info.
Anyone know more about this?
If true, how long before Bush Patriots do the same here?

French Law Strikes A Blow Against Citizen Journalism
Posted by David Kaplan Tue 06 Mar 2007 07:32 PM PST

If you’re reporting in France, you’d better get yourself an official press pass. The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that makes it illegal to record acts of violence by anyone other than professional journalists, according to InfoWorld (via Yahoo News).

Operators of websites that publish such images also could face prison or a fine of nearly $100,000, warned French online civil liberties group Odebi (the name is a play on the French word for broadband).

The council had reviewed the law as part of efforts to synthesize a series of ordinances designed to clamp down on a wide range of civil disorders. In particular, French lawmakers wanted to stop youths who record fights and other acts of violence and post the video to the web. Unfortunately, bloggers who record a protest that gets out of hand could be the ones singled out as criminals.

So, to remedy a law that was supposed to remedy other laws, the French government also has proposed a certification system for websites, bloggers, mobile-phone operators and Internet service providers, identifying them as government-approved sources of information if they abide by a series of rules. In turn, advocacy group Reporters Without Borders has cautioned that such a system could lead to excessive self-censorship as organizations worried about losing their certification suppress certain stories.

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-french-law-strikes-a-blow-against-citizen-journalists/

so much for freedom to publish unless you have a lot of money...

The intent, as stated, is to stop the posting of "bum-fights" and their ilk - anyone can video a protest os other such news-type violence, but instead of posting it themselves they need to submit it to a 'legitimate' news carrier. It would then be broadcast or posted or otherwise disseminated by that news agency.

There is a problem with potential censorship with such things having to be vetted, but if you have something that needs airing you could probably shop it around until you find a news agency to air it, even if you had to go out of country to do so. In any case, it is not the taping that is illegal, but the broadcasting of sensational non-news related violence.

At least, that is my understanding of it.

and for what it's worth, if you are taping five kids beating a sixth as part of a gang initiation, you deserve to go to jail as much as the five doing the beating.

The 'good samaritan' law which requires you to take action to help someone such as phoning the police in some states. You can't very well video record violence and then expect them not to slam you for not helping.