A decree published in the Official Gazette allows the anti-porn parental control law to come into force. But there are still other steps to go through for it to produce its full effects.
It’s another step in putting in place a strategy to keep minors away from Internet pornography. In the Official Journal of September 4, the government published a decree which makes operational a law intended to “ strengthen parental control over the means of access to the Internet “. The text had been pending since March 2, 2022.
However, this new law does not yet have the possibility of producing all its effects. It still lacks certain implementing texts, which the Council of State must validate, to organize the conditions under which this parental control will be carried out. At Le Parisien, the government has confirmed that a decree is on the way and that it will be published in the coming days.
Offer parental controls everywhere, but inactive by default
The idea of this reinforced parental control against pornography dates back to the end of 2021, with the tabling of a bill by MP Bruno Struder, member of the political group Renaissance (La République en Marche). But the contours of the text have evolved since, so as to also include a follow-up of the time spent in front of the screen, to moderate the use of social networks.
For Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister Delegate in charge of the Digital Transition and Telecommunications interviewed by Le Parisien, this text intends to correct the weaknesses of parental control software. These are, according to him, too little used or too complex to use. The instructions contained in the decree aim to encourage the public to use them more often and manufacturers to facilitate their use.
With this law, manufacturers must ensure that their products have parental control software pre-installed. Small subtlety: it is not activated by default. It is up to the parents, during the first configuration of the product (smartphone, tablet, computer and more generally of any equipment intended for the general public and allowing to go on the net), to do so.
In addition, the text provides for parents to be able to deactivate it or even uninstall it. The presence of this application must also be at no additional cost to individuals. An exception is also provided for equipment sold without an operating system. Essentially, the text will affect products put on the market after the decree.
It is therefore mainly the products launched in 2022 that will be affected. For devices launched before, the government wants manufacturers to “ inform the user of the existence of devices allowing him to restrict or control the access of minors to services and content likely to harm their physical, mental or moral development. »
The contours of parental control software remain unclear. According to Jean-Noël Barrot, “ We are going to build on what is already being done, but by unifying the best practices and making them easy to access because studies show that one in two parents does not feel sufficiently supported to manage this situation. “. It remains to judge on parts.
