Poland seeks data on citizens’ attempts to access forbidden sites

Poland’s government intends to force local internet service providers (ISPs) to report citizens’ attempts to access unauthorized online gambling sites.

On Tuesday, the Panoptykon Foundation digital rights watchdog reported on the Polish government’s plans to create a central registry of unapproved websites “used to offer goods and services contrary to the law.”

Polish courts recently upheld the legality of the country’s blacklist of internationally licensed online gambling operators who don’t have a local license to serve Polish punters, but the government appears eager to slap its scarlet letter on sites offering everything from unauthorized drugs and financial services to ride-sharing service Uber.

According to the Panoptykon Foundation, the government plans to authorize a ‘chief sanitary inspector’ to compel data from ISPs that indicate which Polish citizens attempted to access blacklisted websites and which citizens were successful in these attempts.