FINNISH COMMON SENSE

2 March 2007

Finn minister rejects curbs on online poker

Finland's Social Democrat Minister of Transport and Communications has rejected a proposal to extend a child pornography law to embrace online poker, according to Finnish newspaper reports.

Minister Susanna Huovinen was quoted by Jyväskylä-based daily Keskisuomalainen on Tuesday as saying that the law to prevent access to child pornography sites on the Internet should not be expanded to cover online poker.

A gambling forum appointed by the government in 2004 had suggested that the anti-child pornography law, which was enacted in January, should also apply to certain poker sites.

Ms Huovinen told Keskisuomalainen that intervention could come into play only if the Lotteries Act outlawed playing poker on the internet.

"Child pornography is criminal material, which online poker is not," she said, displaying remarkable common sense. "I would rather tackle problems with information and education," the minister told the paper.

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