Both chambers of the state legislature have already approved the law, which will legalize online gambling in the country for the first time. Switzerland\u2019s casino sector, which comprises 21 gambling venues in a country roughly the size of Maryland, had long lobbied for a change in the law.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe market is saturated, and the casinos are eager for new revenue streams. But opponents of the bill have suggested it amounts to protectionism, pointing out that, were Switzerland a member of the EU, it would be illegal to freeze European operators out of the market.<\/p>\n
It was the issue of internet censorship, however, that really struck a nerve, particularly among Switzerland’s youth. Within hours of the bill\u2019s passage last October, a campaign was launched for a public referendum on the new law.<\/p>\n
A coalition of the Free Democratic Party and Greens youth leagues were joined by net neutrality advocates and civil liberties groups to quickly collect the 60,000 signatures needed to force the vote.<\/p>\n
Before Sunday, Luzian Franzini, co-president of the Greens Youth League, told France’s AFP\u00a0 that the law set a \u201cvery dangerous precedent\u201d and spoke of a \u201cgeneration gap\u201d between lawmakers and younger voters.<\/p>\n
“They may not really have understood what this could do to the internet,” Franzini said.<\/p>\n
Blockout Applauded<\/h2>\n
But the Swiss press has largely hailed the result of the referendum as a victory for common sense. French language Swiss news site\u00a0Le Temps<\/em> said the campaign to repeal the law had been \u201calarmist\u201d and claimed it had \u201cdiscredited\u201d itself from the beginning.<\/p>\n\u201cBy using the financial resources from foreign gambling sites which wanted to operate in Switzerland without contributing to the public\u2019s common good, the law\u2019s opponents compromised their entire campaign,\u201d it wrote, as translated by swissinfo.ch.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nOnly media outlet, German language Swiss news site Tages-Anzeiger<\/em>, questioned whether ISP-blocking would actually work, and noted that there is \u201ca risk of a black market emerging which will be neither controlled nor taxed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nCountries that have previously attempted to introduce ISP-blocking have found it both expensive and difficult to implement, while the ISPs themselves end up spending time and resources playing a cat-and-mouse game with the targeted gambling sites they’re attempting to block.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Net neutrality across the globe may be in its death throes. On Sunday, voters in Switzerland backed a new law that will empower authorities to make internet service providers block any non-Swiss — and therefore unlicensed — gambling websites, giving the country’s operators a de facto monopoly when it comes to online gaming and opening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":80272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Net Neutrality Out After Switzerland Online Gambling Referendum<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n