As you might suspect, civil liberty advocates are worried. La Quadrature du Net is concerned that France is both circumventing the usual legal process and stifling free speech. What's to stop officials from blocking some sites by mistake, or on purpose to further political agendas? It's also debatable whether or not the decree will be effective, since it's easy for determined criminals to get around these restrictions through proxies and virtual private networks. One thing's for sure: between this a proposal to make sites responsible for hate speech, online services will have to walk on eggshells if they want to serve the French public.

[Image credit: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images]