back to article Net neutrality-lovin' Sweden mulls law to censor the internet

The Swedish government is considering overturning its long-held opposition to internet filtering – so says one of the country's most high-profile ISPs. According to Bahnhof and its CEO Jon Karlung, the ISP received an email from an investigator who said he had been appointed by the government to look into regulating the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mummy's censoring me!

    Weird, how dare Sweden try and act like a democracy Anyone should be able to do what they want in Sweden, especially if it's fraudulent.

    This is only "censorship" if you have the emotional maturity of a 12 year old girl. This is The Reg going all Buzzfeed again.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mummy's censoring me!

      This is only not censorship if you're a freedom hating millenial.

      People should be able to do what they want, especially if it hurts big American business interests.

    2. Grikath

      Re: Mummy's censoring me!

      Not really.. This is the government using a tool that can be (a)bused in many ways for, in this case, the protection of a state monopoly defined by law.

      Gambling is pretty black and white: either a gambling outfit is recognised under that state monopoly, or it isn't and is therefore illegal to Swedish citizens. So it's well within the rights of the swedish government to try and limit the accessibility to such sites for their own citizens.

      Mind.. the internet gambling outfits can start a game of whack-a-mole as well to avoid this, but that's a matter of whether or not IP blocks are effective...

      1. streaky

        Re: Mummy's censoring me!

        Gambling is pretty black and white: either a gambling outfit is recognised under that state monopoly, or it isn't and is therefore illegal to Swedish citizens. So it's well within the rights of the swedish government to try and limit the accessibility to such sites for their own citizens.

        Assuming Sweden isn't an EU member state after all?

        1. Grikath

          Re: Mummy's censoring me!

          Gambling, end the regulation of it, is very much a sovereign matter for EU member states.

          1. streaky

            Re: Mummy's censoring me!

            Gambling, end the regulation of it, is very much a sovereign matter for EU member states.

            But we're not talking about regulation as banning or taxation, we're talking about regulation as a state monopoly - which is very much an EU matter.

            If a French company wants in it could easily become an issue.

      2. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

        Re: Mummy's censoring me!

        Sweden is very good at state monopolies. That doesn't mean that these monopolies are good, and should not be resisted. It's not as if the Swedish state represents the will of the people, if anyone had that idea.

    3. Old Handle

      Re: Mummy's censoring me!

      Parents can be some of the worst autocrats there are. Perhaps there's something to your analogy after all.

    4. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Mummy's censoring me!

      "the emotional maturity of a 12 year old girl"

      I'm not sure the blatant sexism helps your argument, however in my (admittedly small) experience, tweenie girls seem somewhat more mature than tweenie boys...

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mummy's censoring me!

      Lol! Being a Swede I can assure you that this move is ONLY for collecting taxes.

      If there is one thing the Swedish state apparatus is good at, it's taxation.

      And now it's a leftie government again, with some plumber in charge. Or was it welder.

      Well, I don't live in that rather oppressive country any more, so please forgive me for not keeping track of what muppet the left has put in charge this time around. It's the one with the potato nose.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sweden's Internet is one of the last bastions of freedom in the Internet world. Sure, you get all traffic that leaves or enters the country sucked up by the local NSA who then gladly send copies to the NSA and GCHQ.

    When it comes to attempting to censor the 'net, so far so good.

    The 'gambling as a backdoor' approach is interesting. The last years here in Sweden have seen very mobile goalposts when it comes to the use of privacy eroding legislation. Sadly, this has a good chance of success.

    I just have to revel in the irony of a country, where the government has a monopoly on gambling, passing laws so that they can stifle competition against their monopoly on the Internet.

    On commercial TV here in Sweden, 75% or more of prime time advertising is for Internet gambling sites. All commercial TV in Sweden is actually broadcast from outside Sweden and the companies based outside as well. This allows the broadcasters to shape their advertising after the host country's laws, rather than Swedish law. As the companies are incorporated outside Sweden, the government doesn't get 'its' share of the pie via taxes either. This may have been the thorn in their foot that actually pushed them into introducing censorship via mobile goalposts.

    1. frank ly

      "All commercial TV in Sweden is actually broadcast from outside Sweden and the companies based outside as well."

      Is that because of tax advantages or other reasons?

      1. Petalium

        Advertising on television was forbidden so when satellite broadcasting was becoming mainstream, companies set up shop abroad in order to send adverts to the Swedish public.

        Gambling is heavily regulated and almost a monopoly for the government. If I remember correctly only half of the income is returned to the gambling audience as winnings, so quite a substantial margin.

        There is of cause quite a substantial number of politicians that is convinced that gambling is bad for the populace, and therefore should be banned.

        The same breed of politicians also wanted to ban satellite dishes, Internet and all other means of getting information that was not approved by the government, all in the name of keeping swedes pure of thought. The same politicians usually keep North Korea and Cuba in high regards.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Correct. And anyone who has not lived at least a few decades in Sweden would do well to not down vote someone with first hand knowledge.

  3. Steven Roper

    Ah, we have the next bugaboo

    Protecting innocent citizens against terrorists and children against paedophiles seem to have outlived their usefulness for getting everyone to support draconian policies. So last decade. And protecting us from the evils of drugs and bike gangs is so last century.

    So I'm guessing protecting us all from the evils of internet gambling is to be the next big draconian-pushing bugaboo? I don't know how effective it'll be though; it doesn't quite seem to have the emotive cachet of "but think of the children!"

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just extortion by another name. Pay up for a "license" or you get blocked.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That's correct. And the licence fee will be proportional to the customers' spending.

      A further requisite will be that the gambling company discloses information about any big winners, so that they can be properly taxed. Net losers do not get a tax refund however.

      There is nothing that eats at the lefties more than the thought of someone making money and avoiding taxes. Even on gambling.

      There are no fairness principles around taxation, other than to squeeze as much as possible out of everyone. Well, that is, with the left now back in charge. They love a massive all-encompassing state.

  5. Warm Braw

    [The ISP] responded by offering every customers a free VPN service

    I can't imagine any UK ISP having the balls to do this in response to RIPA..

    1. Nathan 13

      Re: [The ISP] responded by offering every customers a free VPN service

      I would put it past A&A to do this. They are very vocal about the evil of government filtering/censorship.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: [The ISP] responded by offering every customers a free VPN service

        "I would put it past A&A to do this. They are very vocal about the evil of government filtering/censorship."

        Presumably that's meant to be a "would not", or is this a variation on the US usage of "I could care less"?

        Either way, respect is due to AAISP (and Adrian Kennard in particular).

        Why are none of the other ISPs raising their heads above the parapet? Or are they mostly relying on outfits like the ISPA (and James Blessing in particular, who hasn't been quite as vocal as AAISP, but has e.g. given evidence to the same parliamentary committees).

        Just watch your backs, chaps.

        http://www.revk.uk/search/label/SNOOPING (Adrian Kennard's personal bog, posts tagged with "snooping") - worth a read.

  6. ecofeco Silver badge

    When did the GOP take over the Swedish government?

    So basically, conservative governments are the same all over: ignore the law while claiming to be the champions of law 'n order and doing so when the laws especially benefit the average person.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: When did the GOP take over the Swedish government?

      Sweden recently got a left wing government.

      After a period of relative freedom and easing of the taxation burden.

      So there is your answer.

      Principles are now out the window again, and pragmatism is the order of the day. That special left wing uneducated pragmatism that never quite seem to understand the consequences of actions.

  7. Anne Nonymous

    Regulation of the Internet, under the guise of protecting "Net Neutrality" (a term with no agreed-upon definition that applies to a condition that has never existed), paves the way for government censorship and spying. This is but one of many examples.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There is no good reason for censorship.

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