China to Block New PCs from Internet Gambling and More

June 14, 2009 | News Category: Gaming Law

1 Comment

Although it is likely that the Internet gambling ban in the United States will be overthrown, essentially, for now, online gambling has been banned in the US. The kind of online gambling ban that exists in the US, and is enforced by the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act), however, is only a drop in the ocean when comparing it to what China has in store for their citizens.

From the 1st of July, Chinese law requires all personal computers sold in China to be sold with software that will block a number of websites, including Internet gambling sites. Other sites that will be blocked include sites carrying pornography, and political sites that oppose the Chinese government. Sites such as YouTube will be included in the list since much of the contents is not deemed acceptable by the Chinese government. Any sites with information about Falun Gong, a banned spiritual movement, will also be blocked.

The software that will be used in new computers sold in China is to be developed by the Jinhui Computer System Engineering Company. Up until now, China has blocked pornographic sites by blocking Internet gateways, and parents have been able to use parental controls on computers that their children use, as it is done in other countries. The software that will block Internet gambling sites will also shut down chat sessions when certain keywords are used, as well as shutting down certain word processing programs. The software will be updated in much the same way that some operating systems and virus detection software are auto-updated. This will also allow the Chinese government to continually update their list of banned websites.

The blockage of these sites, is supposedly primarily targeted at online pornography, since they claimed purpose of the ban is to protect children. It is questionable whether online casinos, spiritual groups and political content can honestly be included in the list of blocked sites that are being blocked to protect children.

In the US, many 'family groups,' which are usually religious groups, use the same excuse as the Chinese government, that of protecting the children, when they wish to ban Internet gambling from US citizens. One has to wonder if it is simply an excuse in both China and in the US when demagogues are attempting to rationalize censorship they want in place for their own agendas, be they political or religious ones.

In China, it is obvious that the Chinese government wishes to control the lives of their citizens, but one wonders whether the same thing is being done in the US, but on a smaller scale. The US, as opposed to China, prides itself on civil liberties for its citizens.

Comment(s) on this news

Jane - July 03, 2009
To protect the children? Nah!... Most of the online casino sites do not allow minors to play casino games.

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