10 March 2010

Anonymous no 417 sends:

While I wrote the following text, some whistleblower already has published the list in Estonian press, see
article at:

http://www.e24.ee/?id=235060

and then choose the picture no 2 and click on it for the bigger pic.

__________

Estonia has joined the family of countries censoring Internet. However, the reason to do so is a very humorous one. In year 2008, legislators silently (without any public discussions) approved the new version of Tax Law where "remote gambling" was specifically defined and regulations provided on the topic. This part of the law had a delayed  effective date as of 01 January 2010.

There are serious rumours circulating at Internet forums that Tax Office is under the influence of local casino businessman Armin Karu and his Olympic Casinos group (http://www.olympic-casino.com/). Olympic Casinos
is so far the only enterprise which ever asked for the remote gambling permit and thus their business is currently in a rather monopolistic situation in Estonia.

There are ongoing discussions at Estonian Internet forums regarding whether it is ethical that child porn is not filtered while "illegal remote gambling" is. There are discussions about whether poker is  sport or gambling and that the legal clearness is missing whether betting with virtual money should be considered illegal or not. Last but not least, the DNS blocking will mean not only web services are blocked but also e-mails to these domains.

As of today, main Estonian ISP's have received the blocking list (only on paper, no electronic version available) which contains 175 items. ISP's are to obey this blocking list starting the 15-th of March 2010. Specialists have told news that the very idea of DNS filtering idea proposed by the Tax Office is extremely easy to circumvent. ISP's are afraid that it leads to the appearance of various kind of "private" DNS services, and these, in turn, will be targeted by international e-crime.

It seems like Estonia is seriously avoiding this issue to be internationally discussed, thus so far, the Tax Office (www.emta.ee) has no English versions of relevant documentation available on their site. Because Estonian language is so different from Indo-Europaen languages, one cannot properly rely on automatic translations like Google. Similarly, the blocking list is only available as a confidential snail-mails sent to ISPs. Even the ISP cannot download the official list electronically.

Below is the a partial and unofficial translation of the provisions handling the "remote gambling" according to the original Estonian text (http://www.riigiteataja.ee/ert/act.jsp?id=13280227). Any gambling that is
not "legal" should be considered as illegal and blocked by ISP's.

================================

§ 5. Remote Gambling

(1) Remote gambling is the organization of gambling in a way where the result will be decided by means of an electronic device and the player can participate by the means of an electronic communication device, such as
phone, Internet and radio/TV.

(2) Gambling where a device of electronic communications is only used for placing bets, informing about the result or transferring the winned amount to players account, is NOT considered the remote gambling.

§16 The Permit, §17 How to obtain the general gambling Permit

(although never explicitly said in text, probably only a local (Estonian) company can apply because of certain non-evident prerequisites are to be complied - registering business in Estonia, having fair references etc.)

§26 Applying for the operating permit for remote gambling (requirements are general, except that related IP addresses are to be listed in application)

§ 52. Gambling as remote gambling

(1) Remote gambling server and software must be located in Estonia. [..] The owner must ensure the non-interfered access for the procurement officials.

§56 Limiting the access to illegal remote gambling 

(2) ISP is obliged to comply with the blocking list provided by Tax Office and implement it at its DNS servers in due time.

§56(superscript-1) Blocking financial services to illegal remote gambling services.

Financial institution is obliged to adhere to Tax Office notice and immediately stop debiting and crediting a bank account used for organizing the illegal remote gambling.

[in fact it means transfers to certain (mostly external) bank accounts (online casinos etc) will got blacklisted and funds available there will be transferred to the State similarly as these of terrorists]

--------------------------

The domain list intended to be blocked by the DNS method. (transcribed by hand).

1clubcasino.com
5betpoker.com
7reels.com
7spins.com
7sultans.eu
24hpoker.com
24ktgoldcasino.com
32red.com
777dragoncasino.eu
888.com

absolutepoker.com
aladdinsgoldcasino.com
allpokercasino.com
allslotscasino.com
allstarslots.com
aspinalls.com
aztecasino.com
aztecrichescasino.com

bet24.com
betfair.com
betsafe.com
betsson.com
betway.com
blackjackballroom.com
bodog.co.uk
box24casino.com
bwin.com

cabaretclub.com
cakepoker.com
cameocasino.com
captaincookscasino.com
carbonpoker.com
carribeangold.com
carnivalcasino.com
casineto.com
casino.com
casino.winner.com
casinobellini.com
casinoclassic.com
casinodelrio.com
casinoeuro.com
casinoking.com
casinokingdom.com
casinolasvegas.com
casinoriva.com
casinosplendido.com
casinotropez.com
cdpoker.com
chanceroom.com
cherrycasino.com
cherryredcasino.com
cinemacasino.co.uk
cityclubcasino.com
clubdicecasino.com
clubworldcasinos.com
cocoacasino.com
craps.com
crazypoker.co.uk
crazyslots.com
crazyvegascasino.com

davincisgold.com
desertdollar.eu
doylescasino.com
doylesroom.com

empirepoker.com
englishharbour.com
entercasino.com
eucasino.com
europacasino.com
eurosuperpoker.com
everestcasino.com
everestpoker.com

firstrealpoker.com
flamingoclub.com
fortuneroom.eu
fulltiltpoker.com

gamingsclub.com
gocasino.com
goldenpalace.com
goldenrivieracasino.com
goldentigercasino.com
goldfishka.com
gowildcasino.com
grandevegascasino.com
grandonline.com
grandplaycasino.com

heypoker.com
hollywoodpoker.com

intercasino.com

jackpotcity.co.uk
jackpotsinaflash.com

kazinoroyal.com
kingneptunescasino.com
kingsolomons.com
kroonikabingo.com
ksonlinecasino.com
kspoker.com

ladbrokes.com
lasvegasusacasino.com
littlewoodspoker.com
lucky18casino.com
luckyacepoker.com
luckyemperorcasino.com
luckynugget.co.uk

magicboxcasino.com
mansioncasino.com
mansionpoker.com
mariabingo.com
mariapoker.com
mayflowercasino.com
millionairecasino.com
mintedpoker.com
mummysgold.com

noiq.com
nordicbet.com

onlinevegas.com
opoker.com

pacificpoker.com
paradise8.com
partypoker.com
phoeniciancasino.com
piggscasino.com
planet23.com
platinumplay.com
poker.balkanbet.com
poker.bet365.com
pokerheaven.com
pokerroom.com
pokerstars.com
primecasino.com
pkr.com
purevegascasino.com

reefclubcasino.com
richcasino.com
riverbelle.co.uk
roxypalace.com
royalapollo.com
royalvegas.eu
rubyfortune.com
rubyroyal.com
rushmoreonline.com

s3.slotsplus.com
scasino.com
silverdollar.com
slotocash.com
slotsgalore.com
slotsoasis.com
slotsvillage.com
spinpalace.com
strikeitluckycasino.com
sunpalacecasino.com
superiorcasino.com
superslots.com
suprocasino.com

thisisvegas.com
titancasino.com
tobet.com
triobet.com

ultimatebet.com
unibet.com

vegascasinoonline.com
vegaspalms.eu
vegasred.com
vegastowers.eu
vegasvilla.eu
vipcasino.com
vipslots.com
virgingames.com
virtualcitycasino.com
villento.com

williamhill.com
williamhillcasino.com
windowscasino.com
winpalace.com
winwardcasino.com