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Danish opposition wants to abandon the illegal medicine site blocking

By EDRi · December 5, 2012

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [Dänemark: Opposition will Netzsperren gegen illegalen Medikamentenhandel aufgeben | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.23_Daenemark_Opposition_will_Netzsperren_gegen_illegalen_Medikamentenhandel_aufgeben?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20121205]

A majority outside the Danish government parties proposes to abandon
blocking access to websites selling illegal medicine. The law (a new
revision of the laws regulating selling of medicine etc.) allowing
blocking of these sites was passed in May 2011.

Since that time, only one website 24hdiet.com, was blocked and new
domains selling the same products as 24hdiet quickly appeared (e.g.
24hdiet.net).

Now, laws regulating the sale of medicine are being revised again to
implement EU directive 2011/62/EU.

Enhedslisten party proposed an amendment to the revision to abandon the
blocking. The proposal is a result of Enhedslisten spokeswoman, Stine
Brix who started the debate on an Etherpad. Questions put to the
government were formulated on the Etherpad where and the text of the
amendment to abandon the blocking appeared first.

There is a majority in the parliament against the blocking from the
parties of the previous government that introduced it. The spokeswoman
for opposition party Venstre, the biggest party in the Parliament,
explains that they have expected the blocking to work, but it turned out
not to be effective and now she wants to focus on customs and
international cooperation.

The spokesman for the Social Democrats (Government Party), Flemming
Møller Mortensen, said to Information that something had to be done,
that was more than a signal, something that they can believe it works.
“Because it is really difficult with all the things that can be done on
the Internet across borders”.

This is just about one kind of blocking. For example the blocking of
gambling sites is still in effect.

But maybe the tide is finally turning in Denmark.

DNS-censoring Illegal Pharmaceutical Vendors – 24hdiet.com Blocked
(30.09.2012)
http://blog.censurfridns.dk/en/node/32

Rollback of DNS Blocking (only in Danish)
http://openetherpad.org/b1zz1fEEf4

Majority outside the Government will remove net-blocking for medicine
pages (only in Danish, 27.11.2012)
http://www.information.dk/318311

(Contribution by Niels Elgaard Larsen EDRi member IT Pol – Denmark)