By Dan Goodin in San Francisco for The Register. This story has
been reproduced with permission.
The
order (PDF) by Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate
applies to sites including absolutepoker.com, goldenpalace.com, and
ultimatebet.com. The websites, many of which are operated outside
US borders, stand accused of illegally making their services
available to Kentucky citizens. Already, whois records
list goldencasino.com as the rightful property of J. Michael Brown,
the Justice and Public Safety secretary who filed the lawsuit. At
time of writing, goldencasino.com and the handful of other affected
websites we checked appeared to be offering unfettered online
gambling services.
The episode is the latest reminder of the hazards that can visit
firms that do business on the internet, a borderless marketplace
where controversial content or services are subject to the most
restrictive or repressive territory's rules and mores. In years
past, states such as Missouri have also succeeded in shutting down
online casinos even though they had no clear nexus to the state.
And in 2003, the US Department of Justice
wrestled away the rights to ISOnews.com after it posted
information on pirated software and hardware.
We're not sure what the difference is between a state like
Kentucky reaching half way across the globe to shut down a gambling
site and, say, a government like China's trying to silence websites
that violate laws forbidding dissent policies toward Tibet. Think
the comparison is extreme? Then consider this: In patting himself
on the back for taking action against the websites, Brown waxed
hyperbolic on the perils of online gambling, saying
here it is "tantamount to a virtual home invasion."
We're not the only ones made uncomfortable by the action.
"I'm nervous about the fact we have these very loose norms of
when activity taken outside of a state is causing harm in a state,"
said Eric Goldman, a professor of law and Santa Clara University.
"We're way too inclusive in punishing people for out-of-state
behavior."
According to
this article from Gambling911, the state's motion to
seize control of the domain names was filed under seal and a
separate hearing originally scheduled for Thursday was to take
place behind closed doors. The hearing, which concerns the
forfeiture of the domain names, has been rescheduled for Friday
afternoon.
A spokeswoman for Beshear's office couldn't say whether the
action was filed under seal or whether the hearing would be open to
the public.
© The Register
2008
