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Quebec seeks to block access to non-government online gambling sites
- bhouston 11y agoSeems appropriate because then those gambling revenues fund the state.
- jpambrun 11y agoNext step is those pesky newspapers because they critique the state.
- xemoka 11y agoHow did you conflate free-speech and gambling? One is the right to express your own thoughts (which doesn't protect you from the repercussions of said expressions) and the other is an easily manipulated system to transfer wealth from those who may not understand to those that only care about more. Governments were set-up to protect it's population from that type of manipulation... That being said, the method they are going about it—getting ISPs to do the blocking—is just plain wrong. There are other areas of law and control that should be exerted here, not the weakening of net neutrality.
- jpambrun 11y agoThey could blacklist payment to those sites with the help of credit card companies. Having a government controlled internet firewall is a Pandora's box that should never be opened.
- sergers 11y agoor just have a legislature banning it... like NY recently banning Draftkings/fanduel.
- noarchy 11y ago>or just have a legislature banning it... like NY recently banning Draftkings/fanduel. This is how a lot of areas ended up with government monopolies on gambling. They decided it was bad, but not if they were running it and pocketing the revenues.
- oh_sigh 11y ago> and the other is an easily manipulated system to transfer wealth from those who may not understand to those that only care about more. Free speech is used to convince people to give away their money all the time. Look at all the megachurches with multi-millionaire pastors who are living off the backs of their oftentimes poor congregation members.
- wyager 11y agoNo, the other is a voluntary and peaceful exchange of property. Free speech can be used against stupid people just as effectively as free commerce.
- jrockway 11y agoIf only there were some way the government could take a percentage of each transaction in the private market.
- stan_rogers 11y agoAt the risk of opening a can of worms that might be better to keep sealed, the probable (main) target in this case is offshored Mohawk operations. Damnably difficult to tax, no matter which end of the transaction you're looking at, and all parties (except the servers) are physically inside the province (though it can, and probably should, be argued that the operators are on their own sovereign territory, something that Canada in general and Quebec in particular have historically had problems coming to terms with).
- smashed 11y agoI believe many gambling websites are hosted within mohawk territory inside the Québec province. Kanhawake Gaming Commission is operating a datacenter on the reserve from what I understand.. Correct me if I'm wrong.
- kelvin0 11y agoYeah the biggest Mafia of them all does not like competition.
- ocschwar 11y agoIdiotic. All they have to do is block payment processing.
- b0p1x 11y agoI doubt they could change that without changing federal law.
- ocschwar 11y agoAs opposed to requiring IP-based blacklists? If a resident of Quebec is in debt, it's the province's duty to collect on it. If the province says they will not collect on debts incurred with online gambling, it becomes the gambling site's problem. It's not like the Mounties are going to come collect on credit card charges to a gambling site.
- 3pt14159 11y agoBitcoin is pretty easy to get these days man. Payment processing isn't the panacea it once was.
- jpambrun 11y agoYes, but it raises barrier of entry. Furthermore, the proposed firewall will be trivial to bypass with VPN. So that is not exactly fool-proof either.
- ocschwar 11y agoSame issue. QC says they won't collect on CC charges to a Bitcoin trader. It becomes the Bitcoin site's problem to decide whether to sell BC to QC residents or whether to exclude them. That still leaves all 3 gambling-addicted bitcoin miners in Quebec, but well, what can you do...
- tn13 11y agoJust confirms that Government is the biggest Mafia.
- hoodoof 11y ago"The government needs laws to block Internet sites to stop terrorism and child porn sites. It will expand no further than that. This is not the thin end of the wedge."
- neverknowsbest 11y agoNot surprised. They're really pushing their new online lotto options and such recently, may as well make those advertising dollars work extra hard by simultaneously censoring the competition.