Hacker News Reader

We already had law against harassment. They are just very hard to enforce.

This law is mainly a PR move. It is a very common thing in France to pass law that will almost never be used because they are impossible to enforce. They only purpose is for the gov to say "look, we did something !".

View on HN

There is also the normative effect of laws where they do influence the behavior of the majority.

*sometimes

You mean in a country where police officers have gotten convicted for using violence against women for not going out with them ? Also officers have gotten convicted for intercepting phone calls of ex-lovers ? And, given the convictions, how many such officers got away with doing that ? Hundreds ? Thousands ?

That's the government that's supposed to change that normative behavior. Or at least, that's the part of the government that actually interacts with the majority and enforces the laws.

Pig apologist.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com