Happy Slapping & French Law

According to the article 226-1 of French penal code, “ A penalty of one year’s imprisonment and a fine of € 45,000 is incurred for any willful violation of the intimacy of the private life of other persons by resorting to any means of:

1° intercepting, recording or transmitting words uttered in confidential or private circumstances, without the consent of their speaker;

2° taking, recording or transmitting the picture of a person who is within a private place, without the consent of the person concerned.”

Via Legalis comes this decision. A French court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Versailles, used the article 226-1 to sentence to one year in jail a high school student who had filmed with his cell phone the attack of his teacher in the classroom. The court also quoted the articles 223-6 and 226.16 of the French penal Code, the “Good Samaritan” articles, incriminating the failure to help a person in danger.

The court did not quote the article 222-33-3 of the French Penal code, (March 7 2007 Law) making “happy slappers” an accomplice to the aggression. The law , however, makes an exception for journalists filming an aggression. Reporters without Borders denounced the law as making a dangerous distinction between journalists and citizens, bloggers in particular.

Indeed, the combination of the article 226-1 and the Good Samaritan law, as the Versailles Court just did, is sufficient to incriminate happy slappers. The inflation of criminal laws voted to incriminate a very precise fact, is a threat to civil liberties. The law should not be used as a political marketing tool, nor as a magic incantation. Vote this law, and thou shall be safe (and reelected).

Article 222-33-2 in French:

Est constitutif d'un acte de complicité des atteintes volontaires à l'intégrité de la personne prévues par les articles 222-1 à 222-14-1 et 222-23 à 222-31 et est puni des peines prévues par ces articles le fait d'enregistrer sciemment, par quelque moyen que ce soit, sur tout support que ce soit, des images relatives à la commission de ces infractions.
Le fait de diffuser l'enregistrement de telles images est puni de cinq ans d'emprisonnement et de 75 000 Euros d'amende.

Le présent article n'est pas applicable lorsque l'enregistrement ou la diffusion résulte de l'exercice normal d'une profession ayant pour objet d'informer le public ou est réalisé afin de servir de preuve en justice.