Via the really rather good French Élection 2007 blog, two little pieces on the rival candidates for the French presidency and their attitudes to this here interweb.

Following current President Jacques Chirac’s decision to launch his own French 24 hour news channel to have a say in TV coverage, his likely heir to the UMP presidential nomination, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, has told a blogging conference that “I’m not afraid of the word ‘internet regulation'”. Hey, if he’s that worried, maybe he should take France off the World Wide Wbe and go back to using Minitel…

Meanwhile, Sarkozy’s socialist challenger, Segolene Royal, seems to have a much more liberal/modern approach:

“When Sego came on the scene about one year ago, France had already a thriving blogosphere, with many politicians operating individual blogs. But Ms. Royal asked her staff to do something altogether different. What matters, she said, was to engage with communities of non-members to the party, not just adding a new canal for egocasting herself… [Her online team] had no preconceptions, but were from the right generation and had an open mind, seeing participation not as a threat, but as an opportunity.”

Looks like another reason to be hopeful for the lass…

Thursday update: A selection of (fairly predictable) blog reactions to Sarkozy’s comments.