Posted on Sunday, 29th March 2009 by admin
The Swedish government wants an internet filter to ban foreign casino and gambling sites, in their pursuit to shut down child pornography online. This is a proposition from a Government report. The proposition was not a welcome sight for several businesses, local governments and private interests. They say the proposition creates a censorship and puts freedom of speech at risk.
There is a pre-implementation period till April 1st, where the consultative body and private citizen can give their opinion on to the proposition. It became immediately clear that the proposition to ban foreign online casino sites, received a lot of negative response. The proposition, one of many in the report, states that Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) are obligated to ban foreign online casino. In practice the IPS’s voluntary ban child-pornography, according to the report, a government agency will decide which sites will be banned, and inform visitors of that sites that these sites are illegal. Both ISP’s as government agencies are against the proposition. Jon Karlung, CEO of Bahnhof, one of Sweden most largest ISP, says: “it’s the first ever attempt in Sweden to censor the Internet, and should be stopped to avoid a slippery slope.”
Gambling in Sweden is regulated, but the state has a monopoly, Svenska Spel, the largest gambling company in Sweden, is owned by the state. The Swedish Post and Telecom agency ensured that online gambling is not illegal, and asks why a legal action should be banned, they even say it is limitation of freedom of speech. Anders Borg, Minister of Finance, said the ban might go too far. The High Courts say there are no similar regulations in other areas of Swedish law. The Social Democratic party of Lars Wegendal does agree with the proposition.
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