Romania to Censor the Internet to Curb Unauthorized Online Gambling

Romania is on the verge of censoring the use of the internet in order to curb the use of so called illegal online gambling web sites in that country. The Romanian Ministry of Finance is going to introduce a new government appointed body of bureaucrats that will oversee online gambling activity there. The body will be authorized to identify websites that are allegedly providing unauthorized gambling to Romanians, and enforce blockage of the web locations.

A government decision made recently requires all internet service providers to censor web sites that are blacklisted which include sites that direct Romanians through marketing, advertizing, or promotion to unregulated and unauthorized online gambling locations. There is no formal contact made by the ISP to inform the sites have been blocked or tagged as unauthorized. The controversial move is similar to that in Australia where the blacklist is set by special interest groups and government officials.

Romanian officials from the Ministry of Finance have ignored the arguments from several special interest groups, human rights Non Government Organizations, as well as the internet service providers that Romanian legislation does not require an ISP to comply with orders or requests made by government. The Ministry of Communication will be government department that will issue blocking orders to Romanian ISPs. It is proposed that there will be a twelve hour window in which the selected service provider must comply or face serious financial penalties for not doing so. There is no recourse for the ISP’s as the body set up to ensure compliance has no judicial oversight. The Romanian people have faced serious government controlling issues in the past and have overcome them by protest and revolt. Romania’s economy is having some difficult times in part because of past dictators and government interference in the lives of the population. Whether this decision by the officials in power is accepted by the people remains to be seen.