Post Tagged with: "filtering"

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Quebec Takes on the Internet: Government Announces Plans to Require Website Blocking & Studies New Internet Access Tax

The Government of Quebec released its budget yesterday featuring two Internet-related measures that are sure to attract attention and possible litigation. First, it is moving forward with plans to study a new tax on residential Internet services in order to provide support for the cultural sector. The study was recommended by the Quebec Taxation Review Committee, which is looking for new sources of revenue to support the movie, music, and book publishing industries. There are no further details on how much an ISP tax would be, though the plan would increase Internet access costs at the very time that governments are concerned with improving affordability.

Second, the government says it will be introducing a new law requiring ISPs to block access to online gambling sites. The list of blocked sites will be developed by Loto-Quebec, a government agency. The budget states:

A legislative amendment will be proposed to introduce an illegal website filtering measure. In accordance with this measure, Internet service providers will not be allowed to provide access to an online gaming and gambling website whose name is on a list of websites that are to be blocked, drawn up by Loto-Québec. This measure will be applied by the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux, which should have the necessary resources to fulfil its new responsibilities.

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March 27, 2015 47 comments News

ECJ Rules Courts Cannot Order ISPs to Block File Sharing

The European Court of Justice has issued a crucial ruling on Internet freedoms, concluding that national courts are not permitted to order ISPs to block file sharing activities. The court stated that “the filtering system would also be liable to infringe the fundamental rights of its customers, namely their right […]

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November 24, 2011 2 comments News

The Battle Over Internet Filtering

Earlier this week I attended a seminar in Brussels on the "telecoms package" currently before the European Parliament [partial video].  One of the most controversial elements in the package are the prospect for mandated ISP filtering or blocking of allegedly copyright infringing materials.  Those requirements would build on other national and international developments including the still-secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the "three strikes and you're out" policies ("graduated response") in some European countries.

The seminar was illuminating since all of the most vocal stakeholders were in attendance (either as part of the panel or in the audience) and most were pretty transparent about their interests in the issue.  I walked away with the following scorecard:

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August 29, 2008 14 comments News

ISPs Face New Role in Network Control

Appeared in the Toronto Star on January 28, 2008 as The Dangers of 'Locking Down' the Internet Appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on January 29, 2008 as New Strategy Emerges to Change the Locks to Police Online Content Appeared in the BBC on January 29, 2008 as ISPs New Role […]

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January 29, 2008 2 comments Columns Archive

EU Data Protection Working Party on Email Screening

The European Union Data Protection Working Party has released new recommendations on email screening practices including screening for viruses, spam, and certain content. The report expresses concern with the false positive problem on spam filtering, suggesting that email providers ensure that users have control over the degree of filtering.  The […]

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March 1, 2006 Comments are Disabled News