Privacy Implications of Norwegian Blocking Orders
The Norwegian Department of Culture and Equality has provided an extra document to the discussion paper from September 21, 2021, to address privacy concerns about the proposition.
The Norwegian DNS blocking discussion will consider privacy concerns.
The initial discussion paper sent to the European Commission stated that Norwegian authorities would be allowed to implement DNS blocking of unlicensed gambling sites. This would be achieved by changing the country’s then-proposed Gambling Act, allowing Norway to put blocking orders into effect. Under current law, only the country’s government-owned businesses are permitted to broadcast online gambling to domestic customers.
The ministry now believes that the original discussion paper did not sufficiently consider the privacy implications of the change. The government agency said it concluded that the personal and communication protection aspects of the proposition “should be of worry,” and thus would be adding an extra document to the original proposition.
Privacy implications of Norwegian blocking orders
In the original discussion paper, the ministry proposed that internet providers – as part of DNS blocking – should redirect users to a landing page run by the Norwegian Lottery Authority (the country’s gambling regulator).
In spite of this, the administration, unlike web service providers, is not subject to Norway’s privacy rules. Proposing that users be rerouted to the organization’s server log-in page could unintentionally result in the capture of electronic tracks left by users, including details about IP address, access time, and browser kind.
Based on the Norwegian Data Protection Authority’s opinion on the 2021 consultation, this would conflict with the “data minimization” principle in the country’s data regulations.
“The department suggests that the log-in page should be owned and operated by web service providers, not by the Norwegian Lottery Authority, as initially proposed in the September 2021 consultation statement,” the supplement states. “If the log-in page is added to the web service provider’s server, personal information about users attempting to access the site will be blocked by DNS.”
Websites offering gambling will be blocked
Even though the initial consultation took place almost two years ago, during which time Norway has had two changes of administration, the government currently has no authority to prevent foreign websites from broadcasting unauthorized gambling to Norwegian citizens.
However, this situation may be about to change. According to Norwegian business news website E24, the country’s Minister of Culture will “do everything in his power” to support the proposal, and these websites will be blocked by DNS blocking orders from the New Year.
The Norwegian legislature, known as the Storting, is set to receive a proposition in November that could potentially legalize online gambling in Norway, effective January 1, 2024. To stay informed about developments, you can subscribe to the iGaming newsletter.
