REGULATION OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT VIDEOTEX SERVICES IN FRANCE

In the mid 1980s, concern arose over the rise of sexually explicit ser vices on the French videotex system. In examining the legal implicatio ns of these messageries roses, this article reviews how French courts applied criminal law to penalize providers of allegedly pornographic m essage services. Although the Tribunal correctionnel de Paris relied o n statutory law to resolve the Neron case, it refused to extend existi ng print and audiovisual media laws to cover videotex, based on a judi cial precedent against the applicability of press legislation to broad casting. In July 1991, the Court of Appeals of Amiens condemned three messagerie rose managers as accomplices of users who had produced porn ographic announcements because they had intentionally permitted these actions to occur by providing users the means to publicize messages en couraging debauchery.