La règlementation des contenus illicites circulant sur le reseau internet en droit comparé

Paragraph 2 : Controls with the reception : a voluntary censure

The controls carried out with the reception by the Net surfers are primarily founded on the basis of voluntariate. Indeed, they get a possibility of guarantee to prevent that the children or any other vulnerable public are in contact with contents illicit or prejudicial. There are various forms of control to the reception. There are the systems of markings (A), the controls exerted by the PSI itself (B), the software of filtering (C), the control operated by the parents (D), them « hotlines » (E) and finally, the accreditation or the certification of Internet sites (F).

A) Systems of markings : labels or labelling

The systems of marking make it possible to the Net surfers to sail on Internet with more safety. Indeed, they choose themselves the sites which they want to visualize without being afraid to fall inopportunely on contents not requested and in addition, illicit. Nowadays, the labels develop clearly on the network. This phenomenon can be explained by the fact that they make it possible to return surer Internet and consequently, reinforce the confidence of the Net surfers.

Thus appeared labelling, a deontologic step complementary to that which consists in enacting a code of good control^544(*). It thus will make it possible to the Net surfers to choose the sites which began towards precise commercial practices. For example, these sites comprise the identification of the merchant, the safety of the transactions, personal the data protection, the quality of the service offered. These labels were released by national and international organizations. There are several labels in France such as L@belsite developped at the point by the Federation of the companies of remote sale (FEVAD) and the Federation of the companies commercial and distribution (FCD) ; WebCert of French Association for the quality assurance and TrustInfo of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris.

These systems of labelling have however disadvantages since information and contents available on a site can vary constantly, which does not facilitate the classification of the sites. On the other hand, it is about a means coming to counterbalance the application of the censure^545(*).

B) Controls of the person receiving benefits

The PSI can carry out controls on the level of the access to the Web sites by various means. They are placed best to control this access and to adopt measures to make it more difficult. The Net surfers, to be able to visualize or arrive at information, must fill certain requirements such as for example the payment of an amount of money or to have the required age, or to pass from the barriers as the introduction of a password before being able to reach a site.

The pornographic sites comprise, in general, a requirement of payment in order to dissuade the young people it to be reached. Indeed, only the adults have, in theory, a credit card. Thus, the sites having a commercial value are accessible only with the help of the payment from a certain amount of money. In general, the people must be members or be subscribed. However, the young people are able to pass in addition to this kind of barrier by obtaining the means of reaching it.

Others babillards electronic require a minimal age of access to prevent that all people considered as vulnerable, for example, consult contents which require the majority. But there still, control remains weak since in general this requirement is founded on the good faith of the user. It is thus simple for a minor to be made pass for an adult. Of course, they are always dissuasive barriers for the children, because all do not have great knowledge in data processing.

Moreover, certain waiters set up policies and mechanisms in order to control the accesses to certain sites by the children. Moreover, from the companies sedentary environments for the children launched, such as « Kid Net » or « Internet in A Box for Kids » developed by CompuServe.

These measurements bring a framing adapted on behalf of the Net surfers themselves in particular by the use of software of filtering.

* ⁵⁴⁴ C. PAUL, COp cit., note 17, p.54.

* ⁵⁴⁵ P. TRUDEL, F.ABRAN, K.BENYEKHLEF and S. HEIN, Right of the cyberspace, COp cit., note 115, p. 15-8.