IT’S THE VERY LAST item in a 600-page budget document and since it was announced in March literally nothing has happened with it, but the Quebec government’s proposal to block illegal gambling websites has disturbed the Internet Society enough that six months later, it sent a letter to the government warning it about the consequences.
The letter, dated Aug. 4 but published on Sept. 24, lays out in simple terms the problem with the yet-to-be-proposed legislation, saying it would cost more to implement than it will gain in additional revenue, that it would be economically unfeasible for small Internet service providers, that it would balkanize the Internet, that it would set a bad precedent, that it’s an incursion into a federal responsibility, and on top of all that, it would be futile because any such blocks could be easily circumvented, just as Canadians routinely bypass geographic blocks to get access to U.S. Netflix programming.
“It’s expensive, it’s futile and it sets a bad precedent,” is how Internet Society of Canada chairman Timothy Denton summarized the position in an interview with Cartt.ca. Denton, a former CRTC commissioner, said this idea goes against the very spirit of the Internet, which is “set up to be a free flow of packets.”
The proposal in the budget comes from a November 2014 report from the Working Group on Online Gambling, which found that despite the launch of a legal online gambling website by Loto-Québec, gambling at illegal websites has only gone up.
“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,” the budget plan says. It also proposes setting up a “portal” that would allow private operators to operate legally after reaching an agreement with Loto-Québec.
“It’s a direct attack on the freedom of movement of thought." Tim Denton, Internet Society of Canada
“It’s a direct attack on the freedom of movement of thought,” Denton countered. And “it probably violates the trade and commerce clause in the constitution.” Telecommunications is a federal jurisdiction, though it’s up to the provinces to control gambling and enforce the Criminal Code.
Denton doesn’t deny that gambling can be a problem, but he said online gambling is not illegal, “and I wouldn’t try to prevent it.”
“You need to be very cautious about ‘something needs to be done’, which has quite foreseeable damaging implications in many dimensions. The question really is what is the most effective way of countering a particular harm without endangering other values you hold important.”
Denton compared the issue with a recent case of a man in New Brunswick who was caught buying alcohol in Quebec and bringing it back home across the border. It’s a common practice even though it’s illegal, and prosecuting it put a New Brunswick law against a clause in the Constitution Act that allows free admission of goods across provincial borders.
“It’s the same issue constitutionally,” Denton said.
“We have received the letter,” said Nathalie Roberge, press attaché for Quebec finance minister Carlos Leitão, and staff working on legislation have been made aware of its concerns. But she admitted that “there has been no development on this issue” and there’s no timetable for introduction of legislation. “We’re still reflecting,” she said.
The budget plan promised a bill during this fiscal year, which ends March 31.
