The government should not block foreign online gambling companies. The proposal from the governments report on gambling meets severe criticism from the consultative body. It is accused for being a form of censorship and an offence to the freedom of speech.
Wednesday next week is the last day for the consultative body to respond to the governments report. Authorities, local governments, organisations and private interest shall then have expressed their view on how gambling should be regulated in the future.
But already it stands clear that several important agencies are very negative to the proposal in the governments report to filter the internet access in order to prevent gamblers in Sweden to reach foreign online gambling companies.
The proposal, one of many in the report, means that internet service providers (ISPs) will be made to block foreign online gambling companies. The report suggest that a government agency shall decide what internet sites that shall be blocked and then inform persons trying to reach those sites that it is illegal.
The idea however gets the thumbs-down from both authorities and ISPs. “Censorship”, the ISP Bahnhof writes in their response to the report.
- Is it really a good idea that the state shall decide which internet sites that are allowed for people to reach, says CEO Jon Karlung to newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Today do several ISPs voluntarily block internet sites that depict child pornography. But there are no state filtering, and Jon Karlung thinks this is an important issue.
- For the first time is state censorship of the internet proposed in Sweden, Karlung says.
But it is not only private companies who lash out at the suggestion, also government agencies are critical.
Also the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency, the High Courts and Agency for Administrative development have issues concerning the blocking of internet access.
The Post and Telecom Agency writes in their response that the “regulation could bring limitations in the freedom of speech for individuals”. It is not illegal, yet, to visit the internet sites of foreign gambling companies, and the agency thus asks why a legal activity should be stopped.
The High Courts in the counties of Skåne and Blekinge calls the proposal “disproportional” and point to the risk that one kind of state filtering of internet access leads to also the block of other types of internet sites.
“What really must be taken into account is that there are no similar regulations in any other area of Swedish law”, the courts write in their response to the government report.
At the same time the Agency for Administrative Development writes that the proposal will mean “a ban for Swedish citizens to use parts of the internet” and asks for a greater discussion about the consequences of the proposal.
The Ministry of Finance, who commissioned the report, do not make any comments on the responses from the consultative body before Wednesday´s deadline.
Earlier the Minister for Finance, Anders Borg, has said that blocking internet access would be to “go a little bit too far” and have question the proportions of the suggestion. The Social Democratic spokesperson Lars Wegendal has said that he supports the idea of a state filter on foreign online gambling sites.
Facts
Gambling is regulated by the state in Sweden. There are a small number of gambling companies, all of them operating with the permission of the Swedish state. In fact it however is a state monopoly with the state owned gambling company Svenska Spel in a dominating position, generating yearly revenue of SEK 4 billion.
David Jonasson
david.jonasson@stockholmnews.com