The Great Firewall of Germany

didnt know there was a "lottomonopol" in our country...

Looks like Germany stole this (insane) idea from Italy... Too bad in Italy they didn't think/manage to block proxies abroad :)

This won't come. Whatever the states decide in december, EU won't have any of it. The monopoly can't be held anymore, they only drag its demise.

On another note: It doesn't help any to blow this issue way out of proportion. The proposed filter is only one option they discuss, a very unlikely one even and not a word about redirectors in this article.

Also it is not the german government, but some "prime ministers" (don't know english word) of the states.

This is no "Great Firewall of Germany", not even a tiny diminutive one.

Hah! The Germans are waay behind, in DK, we've already got filters AND court orders to block a list of websites!

.. The Internet will never be free again ..

Well I think its for the best... the internet started as a free for all but its turning to out to be a monster.So unless we try and control it... we will all soon be consumed and in really big trouble...

while i think that the means of achieving the goal sound very undemocratic and potentially dangerous, i actually can understand why they want to keep the gambling money inside their countries, as it is highly taxed and every money spent somewhere else has to be taken from tax paying people in the respective country, who now also have to pay for the gamblers, who at least i believe and from what i know, often come from the lower end of the social ladder, and will more likely become a welfare case, in which case the tax payer has to open his wallet once again. i am not a fan of monopolies, but international market freedom does not always have to be beneficial...

the question is just in which other way they can stop the money flow...

but maybe i am wrong - ready to be convinced

dakral, I agree that gambling has a high potential to loose much money with if kept unregulated.

But the actual (not much known outside of Germany of course) problem here is not to prevent people from gambling, but to secure the money source Lotto (gambling is such an ugly word...;)) for the states in Germany. So far the state-owned Lotto companies have a monopoly and make *huge* amounts of money with it. This money is regularly a large figure in the state budget.

The states don't want to share this money with potential private companies on the pretext that the monopoly prevents compulsive gambling. Which is of course stupid, since the rules can prevent this maybe, but not just because the companies are state-owned.
Anyway, EU law says, that if some service is offered in a member country, other member countries must be allowed to offer the same services to the same rules. There have been rulings on this and Germany's Antitrust agency is on to the companies too, but so far they tricked and delayed everything there.

Since this topic is discussed in earnest now, Lotto companies started an loud and ugly ad campaign to keep the rules and laws as they are now. Not pretty.

So this is done not to fight compulsive gambling, but simply for money.