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The slashdot thread:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/03/24/1240210&mode=thread

The French web site:
http://altern.org/defense/vote/

An English translation follows.

I would not treat this as confirmed.

-Declan

        The National Assembly passes law requiring Web site authors to identify
        themselves under penalty of imprisonment.

        Summary: Web site authors must identify themselves to their hoster
        before any public communication can be made, under penalty of
        imprisonment. In the absence of an identification, the hoster is
        responsible for the site's contents and is liable for up to six months
        in prison.

        Yesterday, March 22, the national assembly approved an amendment dealing
        with the responsibilities of Web site hosters.

        This law follows from the vote of the Senate on January 19 which
        required Web hosters to disclose the identity of any author to a third
        party under penalty of six months in prison.

        All Web sites whose authors are unknown are the legal responsibility of
        the hoster. In order to free myself from this responsibility I would
        have to obtain the identities of each of altern.org's 48,000 users!

        Of course, the e-commerce industry will be happy. What could be better
        than requiring customers to reveal their identities, leaving you the
        possibility of commercial exploitation?

        The goal of this law seems to be to enact self-censorship on the level
        of the Web hoster, and on the level of the author who, after giving up
        his identity under penalty of imprisonment, has no insurance that his
        personal identity will not be used for unfair profit.

        This vote, however, is not definitive. A third and last reading must
        take place. But it will be a question of reconciling differences in the
        texts put forth by the assembly and by the Senate, so the law could
        conceivably get worse.

        As far as the future of altern.org is concerned, contrary to what I said
        yesterday before reading the law's exact text, I can continue to host
        sites as long as I accept my new role as watchdog.



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