France and Denmark may filter online gambling websites

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Deutsch: [Frankreich/Dänemark: Sperren für Glücksspielseiten | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1704]

An amendment to the draft law on the opening of the market of online
gambling was introduced to the French Senate Commission for culture and
communication, in order to give the administration the power to apply
filters to gambling sites without a court order.

While initially, during the examination of the draft law in the National
Assembly, the decision was that filtering non-homologated sites would be
subject to a court order, the amendment wants to give ARJEL (the
authority regulating online games), as it was intended initially, the power
to order the blocking measures.

Hopefully, even if adopted by the Senate, the amendment might be rejected by
the French Constitutional Court, that had a similar ruling in the HADOPI
law.

In Denmark also, an agreement supported by the Parliament suggests blocking
foreign gambling sites, while bringing a partial liberalization of the
gambling market.

According to the Liberal Alliance, this agreement would infringe the freedom
of speech and place Denmark at the same level as China from this point of
view.

“Usually it’s in China and Iran that is blocking people’s access to the
Internet.I wonder whether we have taken the fundamental discussion of
whether these are the methods we want in Denmark” commented professor of
European law Søren Friis Hansen.

Filtering online games: senator Dupont wants to risk censorship… of the
law (only in French, 4.02.2010)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/15010-filtrage-des-jeux-en-ligne-le-senateur-dupont-veut-risquer-la-censure-de-la-loi.html

Chinese conditions in Danish Internet? (only in Danish, 4.02.2010)
http://www.dr.dk/Nyheder/Politik/2010/02/04/140247.htm