Protection Center made 13 arrests in a pay-per-view pornography program. 37 In February 2007, Austrian authorities were able to uncover a child-pornography ring involving
more than 2,300 people in 77 countries. 38
As individual countries have moved to filter pornographic content online, they have
done so with increasing coordination. Citizens in 19 countries assist in identifying and
reporting illegal content—particularly in the area of child pornography—through a
network of hotlines established by the EU. 39 Recent reports show that the Save the
Children Denmark hotline, financed in part by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Plus Program, had nearly 9,000 reports of child abuse images in 2006 alone. In 2004,
Spanish police arrested 90 people in the country’s largest operation against the distribution of child pornography, also facilitated by the hotlines. At the same time, new regulations at the regional level could force countries to impose stricter filtering regimes
within their own countries. The new AVMSD requires member states to take measures
to ensure that on-demand audiovisual services that might seriously impair the ‘‘physical, mental or moral development of minors’’ are made inaccessible to minors. 40
While Europe has been very successful in mobilizing filtering technologies against
child pornography, it has been less successful at coordinating efforts against gambling.
In 2006, Italy enacted a law that requires ISPs to block the Web sites of gambling operators not licensed nationally. In 2007, however, the European Court of Justice ruled
Italy’s law in violation of EU standards. 41 In 2002, Swiss politicians attempted a similar
block on online gambling. The effort was suspended in 2004, and no further action has
been taken since. A 2007 proposal in Norway blocked access to foreign gambling Web
sites; Web sites that ‘‘desecrate the Flag or Coat of Arms of a foreign nation’’; Web sites
that promote hatred toward public authorities, contain hate speech, or promote racism;
offensive pornography sites; and P2P networks that offer illegal downloads of music,
movies, or television shows. 42 To date, no action has been taken on the bill. 43
Individual countries have been very proactive in instituting filtering and monitoring
programs to control child pornography. This enthusiasm has extended to EU-wide regulation. However, no such enthusiasm exists for controlling gambling. Filtering, where
it has been instituted, has been done at the country, not the regional, level.
Nationalistic Filtering
European governments have not censored direct political opposition. However, they
have on occasion censored content that had the potential to ‘‘threaten national
identity.’’
In December 2002, a local Swiss magistrate, Franc ¸oise Dessaux, ordered several Swiss
ISPs to block access to three Web sites hosted in the United States that were strongly
critical of Swiss courts 44 and to modify their DNS servers to block the domain www
.appel-au-peuple.org. 45 The Swiss Internet User Group and the Swiss Network Operators Group protested that the blocks could easily be bypassed and that the move was
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Europe Overview
more than 2,300 people in 77 countries. 38
As individual countries have moved to filter pornographic content online, they have
done so with increasing coordination. Citizens in 19 countries assist in identifying and
reporting illegal content—particularly in the area of child pornography—through a
network of hotlines established by the EU. 39 Recent reports show that the Save the
Children Denmark hotline, financed in part by the European Commission’s Safer Internet Plus Program, had nearly 9,000 reports of child abuse images in 2006 alone. In 2004,
Spanish police arrested 90 people in the country’s largest operation against the distribution of child pornography, also facilitated by the hotlines. At the same time, new regulations at the regional level could force countries to impose stricter filtering regimes
within their own countries. The new AVMSD requires member states to take measures
to ensure that on-demand audiovisual services that might seriously impair the ‘‘physical, mental or moral development of minors’’ are made inaccessible to minors. 40
While Europe has been very successful in mobilizing filtering technologies against
child pornography, it has been less successful at coordinating efforts against gambling.
In 2006, Italy enacted a law that requires ISPs to block the Web sites of gambling operators not licensed nationally. In 2007, however, the European Court of Justice ruled
Italy’s law in violation of EU standards. 41 In 2002, Swiss politicians attempted a similar
block on online gambling. The effort was suspended in 2004, and no further action has
been taken since. A 2007 proposal in Norway blocked access to foreign gambling Web
sites; Web sites that ‘‘desecrate the Flag or Coat of Arms of a foreign nation’’; Web sites
that promote hatred toward public authorities, contain hate speech, or promote racism;
offensive pornography sites; and P2P networks that offer illegal downloads of music,
movies, or television shows. 42 To date, no action has been taken on the bill. 43
Individual countries have been very proactive in instituting filtering and monitoring
programs to control child pornography. This enthusiasm has extended to EU-wide regulation. However, no such enthusiasm exists for controlling gambling. Filtering, where
it has been instituted, has been done at the country, not the regional, level.
Nationalistic Filtering
European governments have not censored direct political opposition. However, they
have on occasion censored content that had the potential to ‘‘threaten national
identity.’’
In December 2002, a local Swiss magistrate, Franc ¸oise Dessaux, ordered several Swiss
ISPs to block access to three Web sites hosted in the United States that were strongly
critical of Swiss courts 44 and to modify their DNS servers to block the domain www
.appel-au-peuple.org. 45 The Swiss Internet User Group and the Swiss Network Operators Group protested that the blocks could easily be bypassed and that the move was
284
Europe Overview