Quebec passes web-blocking legislation; ISPs will have to do the dirty work

By Steve Faguy

QUEBEC – A new law requiring Quebec-based Internet service providers to block certain gambling websites has passed the province’s National Assembly and been signed into law, despite strong concerns expressed by opposition parties, ISPs and Internet policy experts.Bill 74, an omnibus bill that implements legislative changes announced in the governing Liberal Party’s 2015 budget, includes a section giving provincial lottery board Loto-Québec the power to require ISPs to block a list of websites it determines to be allowing illegal online gambling.“We have concerns,” Parti Québécois finance critic Nicolas Marceau told the legislature before the bill was adopted on May 17....