Is it illegal to watch movies online in France?

Thousands of Americans have been blackmailed or paid protection money due to having watched internet porn, why do we condone something that could allow our officials to be blackmailed and our neighbors shaken down when many say close to 100% of men have or do watch it?

• https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-appeals-court-stop-porn-troll-shakedown-scheme I offer no opinion on whether it is good or bad to watch porn, an  alternative is to view what is made at makelovenotporn which many women  support .  But why do we condone something that could allow our officials to be  blackmailed and our neighbors shaken down? Why don't the rest of us  come together and have an "I am Spartacus" movement and admit it if we  have watched it too? We cannot continue to allow a system of blackmail  to exist about something that is fairly common, not to everyone, but to  many. (some claim 100% of men have watched or looked)? I am Spartacus. but at my age there's not much hope in anything else  but watching so it's a very rare every month or two kind of thing.  (besides I'm happily married thank you and perhaps just enjoy an  occasional look at 70's golden age stuff as reminiscing over an age now  gone). There has also been another court decision in this area, https://www.eff.org/press/mentions/2007/07/18-96 and many more. There is another reason I think it is important to discuss this matter is we all know the history of gays not even being able to be hired by the foreign service. They were considered subject to being blackmailed. Because people had the courage to discuss this matter, the world has radically changed in that area, at least here in the US. Cindy Gallop gave an important talk on porn and society at a Ted talk. http://talkabout.makelovenotporn.tv/2013/06/17/watch-the-ted-talk-that-started-it-all-cindy-gallop-says-make-love-not-porn/ She has a large female following.  We are undergoing a great change in society in that men are being made aware that they must be respectful to women. Most porn today does not do that although which porn is and which is not is a subject of great debate.  If we men does and which does not have not become much subjects of  conversation ass I see in most instances they have  becomes one sided. I think Gallop made a subsequent speech as well. If you aren't familiar with TED talks, please be aware they are not done mainly for porn. In fact, I think the one Ms. Gallup gave was the only one I know about at least as narrowly confined to the topic of porn. I have not been to her site but I think she has been trying to make films tjhat show men behaving in respectful ways towards women and vice versa. And that compensate people willing to engage in home films like these in a very fair manner in my opinion, they get one half of the revenue and a movie is something like 5 dollars or so to download.   If this issue is not discussed  it is always a subject that is not one for "polite" conversation and , we will be stuck with old men making porn that is degrading to women. I don't want that to continue and that is another reason I brought this up. While rape at the military is being discussed, men also need to discuss what kind of porn we will allow and that should  porn allowed for miliatry members be of a kind  in which everyone involved is respectful towards each other. I also understand some sexual therapists prescribe porn to couples, probably some of the respectful kind that I have seen. At least I hope so, although some people say fantasy is an importnant part of sex.  I have no scholarly background on this, but as a lawyer I see it something that the legal community is always talking around, but rarely about these issues. I was a shy student and didn't even consider the Sex 101 course that was taught.  However, that era was unique in that the first real mainstream x rated movi9es had already come out and believe it or not, seeing a porn moive was considered by many to be fashionable and necessary to be a full fledged open minded person about sex. I was quite shy and because I was a fan of Ben Franklin in high school, I found his essay regarding the kind of person a young man should pick if marriage was not at hand.  And that was good advice and have actually found older women to be more helpful and open minded and smarter than younger women, and that is true even today. . Their sexual peak was also occurring about the same time as mine so although I was not someone who sought out many partners, Ben's advice proved beneficial to my overcoming my shyness and virginity. But learning could not be done with porn in those days to any great extent, or if it could, I did not watch much or lern much from the little porn I saw when a groupo of gusy from the college would get up the courage and go to the drive-in or see one of the movies at the movie theater. Other than Playboy and Penthouse magazines. So that was my first long time experience and it broke my heart when she married a doctor. I'm not going to reveal any more on that subject, but I still believe in Ben's advice. I was just in my early 20s then so now approaching sixty, it was a long time ago. If we keep a tight lid on the conversation about respect for the other sex, porn and love, then how can anything every \change for the better? Cindy gave that talk at a meeting of very bright intelligent people who consider themselves as people who advance important  new ideas.  And that is what I am trying to accomplish here. I'd love to hear  more views on this. I'm really too old for much porn, a fifty six year old peed dribbler as old Joe described himself is kind of my state at this point,  although I always am willing to try to do things to make live pleasant for my loved one.  Perhaps that is and additional subject  that we should approach this kind of discussion.  If Dr. Ruth could talk about it, why can't the rest of us? Let's do it in a respectful way.  Lastly, this is a private matter for most people and we should encourage Congress to keep it that way. But maybe we won't know what kinds of privacy laws to pass if we don't discuss it as a society. Lastly, does quora offer people the ability to answer one or two questions anonlymously.  I view this as an important societal issue but many people are not going to discuss it if they can't have some anonymity. American's are still self repressed about sex as Ben Franklin himself described. But Ben decided not to work too much to change American's attitudes on the subject. He had ladies in waiting in France who assured his presence there for many years. Maybe we can take up where left off. He probably wrote on the topic of sex because it sells newspapers very well.. and Ben was a shrewed marketer of his paper, if nothing else.

• Answer:

  The problem here is that it's not blackmail, at least within the legal definition of the term. What's happening is that the individual is breaking a law -- illegal downloading of copyrighted materials. He is then given a choice of paying the exorbitant fee claimed by the lawyers representing the copyright holder or to go to trial. If he goes to trial, the subject matter -- porn -- becomes part of the public record, accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. If he pays the fee, there's no trial and no public record. This is very hard-ball lawyering -- copyright trolling, in fact -- but it's not blackmail. There is no law that allows the downloader to download copyrighted material without license: he's in the wrong. There's no law that prevents lawyers (on behalf of the copyright holder) to sue for infringement. There's nothing legally deficient in offering an offender the opportunity to pay a fee -- to settle out of court -- to avoid legal process, i.e., a public trial. A public trial means public records, with very few exceptions. Simple embarrassment is not one of those exceptions. The way to avoid the problem is to avoid illegally downloading copyrighted materials. What's really at issue with the EFF suit is the suspicion that the copyright holders (and/or their lawyers) are entrapping victims of their (legal) scheme by uploading the materials to torrent sites and the like. That, if proved, would violate several laws. But it has to be proved that they or their agents are in fact doing it. A secondary issue arises when the lawyers buy up copyrights of materials with the purpose of suing violators. This isn't exactly kosher, but the law has not yet determined that this is illegitimate, either. UPDATE 10/21/13: It may not be necessary to create a new law. Existing laws are being used to go after at least some of the trolls. You may wish to read up on the continuing saga of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law group, lawyers that have gone after copyright violators. It seems that there was more than a little entrapment, not to mention feathering their own nest. You can get the story, in great detail, at the Popehat law blog. That blog's coverage -- available at the link below -- goes in reverse chronological order: the most recent is at top. http://www.popehat.com/tag/prenda-law/