Poland Proposes Censorship of Internet Gambling

Poland has been embroiled in controversy over corruption in the political system in the E.U. member country. The “Gambling Commission,” which is a special body created in the Polish parliament earlier this month, has recently launched its investigation into the lobbying scandal which rocked the ruling Civic Platform (PO) party in September. The opposition had been demanding the establishment of an investigative commission since the scandal came to light and the involvement of leading PO politicians was exposed. The way in which the ruling party has responded to these calls, has only incited further accusations from the opposition that the government just wants to cover up its involvement in the gambling scandal.

According to the Warsaw Business Journal the Office of the Committee for European Integration (UKIE) is critical of the government's draft proposals for online gambling. Currently in Poland the interactive version of gambling is prohibited by law in Poland. There are a reported several thousand customers that play poker or use internet casinos in Poland. There are regulations to prohibit gambling online but there are no mechanisms to prevent the activity. New proposed regulations will try to filter online gambling web sites as well as other so called immoral web content. Enforcing the internet service provider censorship would require the tax department the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and various police departments. The Electronic Communication Office has the task of building a register of forbidden sites for the government. The draft bill will be sent to the European Commission to assure that it does not violate European Union rules on free speech or e commerce. The Parliament of Poland will vote on the proposed legislation once the E.C. approves of the recommendations. It is thought that this process is just the beginning of a series of measures to censor the web and create a gambling monopoly for the government.