Assembly votes to allow courts to block anti-consumer sites

The French national assembly again discussed the subject of website filtering as deputies debated the new consumer protection bill, Le Monde reports. They approved an article allowing fraud prevention authority DGCCRF to seek a judge's approval to require ISPs to block a website which breaks consumer protection law. Socialst deputy Corinne Erhel, which co-authored a Net Neutrality report published in April, expressed concern that this approach could lead to perfectly legal websites being filtered. The assembly voted down an amendment tabled by the Socialists seeking a moratorium on internet blocking and filtering measures until a precise evaluation is made of existing measures, which have multiplied since 2004 (online gaming, child pornography). Internet users' association Quadrature du Net deplored that too many deputies still fail to understand the "great dangers" involved with website blocking, despite strong criticisms of web filtering.