On the opposite side of the issue from the editorial in yesterday’s Toronto Star, I have been receiving mail from Bowmans, a gaming website, warning about Ontario’s plan to limit advertising of websites that offer gambling.
Bowmans warns that the Ontario legislation (which may be introduced today) could extend to include what could mathematically be described as including a second derivative: making it illegal to advertise a domain name or URL that has on it a link to a real gaming site.
If the bill passes, then the link to Bowmans website from this blog posting could put me offside.
As you know, I am 100% behind the ability and desirability for governments to exert sovereignty over the internet within their jurisdiction. There should be no digital exemptions for conformance with the codes of behaviour we or any other jurisdiction should seek from its citizens.
But let’s make sure the legislation doesn’t take things too far.
Bowmans’ letter suggests that the legislation
could make the advertisement of “Google.com” or any other search engine illegal as they all link to gaming sites.
That is a pretty extreme reading of the plain language of Bill 60, the private member’s bill upon which today’s legislation will apparently be based:
No person shall print, publish, distribute, broadcast or telecast an advertisement or representation that includes an Internet gaming business website address unless the person believes in good faith that the Internet gaming business has been licensed or otherwise granted permission to operate in Ontario or Canada by the appropriate authority and is operated in accordance with the applicable laws of Ontario and Canada.
We’ll want to watch this file as it proceeds through the legislative process. There are a number of Canadian companies that have been active in the internet gaming sector.
And I may have to disable the link to Bowmans in this posting!