France threatens criminal charges against media.
French media have been warned not to publish content from any emails allegedly hacked from presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign team, to prevent the outcome of the vote being influenced.
It comes after Mr Macron's team said it has been the target of a "massive and coordinated" hacking attack ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff.
France's presidential election commission also said it could be criminal offence to republish any campaign data.
French law is by no mean absolutist when it comes to protecting free speech, but this appears to be a much bigger step in the wrong direction. Even so, I can't help thinking that all this government attention shone on the Macron leaks is self defeating.
People become far more interested in something when it is denied them, while the hysterical reaction of the commission just lends credibility to the documents' legitimacy.
Not to mention the appearance of government favoring the elites' candidate during an election where the key issue is the extent to which government favors the elites.
Hillary has said that her numbers didn't tank after Comey's announcement three weeks before the election that she was being investigated about the Weiner leaks. They tanked three days before the election after Comey announced that she WASN'T being investigated - the implication being that swing voters were more turned off by the special treatment she received from government investigators than they were the underlying allegations.
A similar phenomenon may end up happening in the French election. Voters understand a lot more about the rough and tumble of election year politics than their paternalistic government overseers think they do. Last minute allegations are par for the course, and in fact late day scandals are expected as part of the whole election process.
Scandals keep the election entertaining, but at the end of the day most voters (especially French voters) forgive the candidates their peccadilloes because they know all pols are dirty at least to some extent.
But for the French government to now step in to disrupt that process on the grounds that it hurts the integrity of the election is itself compromising the integrity of the process - not to mention spoiling all the fun.
And spoiling the fun is something French voters are unlikely to forgive.
Comments
But of course! Allowing the free flow of information
could cause fascist LePen to win. Then she might impede the free flow of information.
This just sounds sketchy to me. It also sounds reminiscent of the Clinton campaign. Is this a new neoliberal tactic? Somebody talk me down.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Must have been the Russians! /snark
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Must have been those Americans - I am feeling snarky today
There Are No “Macron Leaks” in France. Politically Motivated Hacking Is Not Whistleblowing.
And then they write soo much, who want to read that much? Read it anyway.
I knew it!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
"Widespread speculation'...
means we don't have a shred of evidence but we'll catapult the propaganda anyway.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
As if elections weren't suspicious enough....
So maybe it was Trump and La Pen respectively. They are the ones who stand to benefit.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Putting the truth just out of reach is infuriating
as you point out. Complaining about the act of hacking, while ignoring the truth contained in the hacked emails, will be seen in France, as it has been here, as a sham, as a corrupt diversion. Hollande's government is going out in a fireball. LePen will win, á la Comey's last minute reprieve of the Mad Bomber defeated the Klinton creature.
Never Trust anyone who wants to deny you information.
In their Heart, that person believes themselves your master.
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
There is an automatic 48 hour news black out on all candidates
before a vote. This was as I understand it, a reinforcement not to violate that by weighing in after the time limit. Also, until all votes are counted, no media speculation or campaigning. They try to keep the election untainted.
The release of documents took place just before the 48 hour cut off.
Speculation:
- Le Pen... to discredit Macron.
- Macron...to give himself wiggle room in case he loses.
- US CIA...to throw the election. Reason?
- Other EU nations...the same. Reasons?
- Russia...comes up in US press. Not so much in France.
It mostly fell with kind of a thud, and the election has gone on without any comment.
You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again you did not know. ~ William Wiberforce
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Cheers for that.
Puts things in better perspective.
In your list of possibilities, you can also include a disgruntled Snowden type - perhaps in a government department, financial house, or even a law firm - giving the data to a wikileaks wannabe looking to make a splash.
And of all of the parties you named, that last one is what really scares the PTB: the freelancing wildcard they can't account for.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?