Slashdot Mirror
WA Law Means Linking to Gambling Websites Illegal
tpoker writes "Following a previous story on Washington State making online gambling a felony, the Seattle Times reports that the first legal salvos have begun. 'The first casualty in the state's war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling. What a Bellingham man did on his site was write about online gambling. He reviewed Internet casinos. He had links to them, and ran ads by them. All that, says the state -- the ads, the linking, even the discussing -- violates a new state law barring online wagering or using the Internet to transmit 'gambling information ... Telling people how to gamble online, where to do it, giving a link to it -- that's all obviously enabling something that is illegal.'"
Maybe this will provide some legal leverage to go after people who spam blogs and forums with adds for online poker, etc?
I give it a year before it's struck down as unconstitutional.
War isn't about who's right. It's about who's left.
Ten bucks says they find a way to lead Google away in handcuffs.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
The same Seattle Times printed my letter to the editor on the same subject today.
I guess we know where this is going. I wonder how the new justices are going to vote....
"Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
For some reason I'm thinking that precedent from MPAA vs 2600 Magazine might be a contributor, as they were successfully barred from even linking to DeCSS, even though they were no longer hosting it. And at that point, there was no ruling on the legality of DeCSS, either...
I know, there are some differences, but still, I don't think that referencing something should necessarily be a crime. I'm sure that there are exceptions, where people are being made victims by directing others to certain places, but this just seems extreme.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Oh No please don't take away my craigslist casual encounters!
...any discussion whatsoever of rape, incest, murder, drug use, etc. must also be illegal.
Reminds me of when AOL added the word "breast" to their filters without thinking through the consequences. All the members of a breast cancer group suddenly had to start referring to themselves as survivors of "hooter cancer".
not to mention common sense. As much of the information (other than reviews) on his site could be easily found using a search engine, I'm not really sure how collecting it on one site could be illegal. It's a lot like someone putting up a website reviewing various types of marijuana they have purchased in the area, and where they purchased it. It may be an illegal activity, but writing about doing it is hardly a crime.
I'd like to thank the US for these restrictive laws that prevent US companies making money out of internet gambling.
Ahh the wonder of the US... legal to buy a gun... illegal to bet $10.
Keep up the good work, why not try prohibition again as well?
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Since poker is illegal now, people playing "Texas Holdem" are now playing "Texas Holdem Up, Keepem where I can seeem."
> violates a new state law barring online wagering or using the Internet to transmit 'gambling
> information
You're telling me that hosting a site with the fact that opposing sides of a dice add up to 7 is now a criminal offence in parts of the USA?
Land of the free, indeed. Whatever happened to doing whatever you wanted unless it hurt someone else?
The one good side is that if this gets struck down, why cant we get the DMCA's "trafficing" clause struck down as well? Telling someone how to gamble online illegally vs. Dimitri Skylarov telling people how to crack PDFs. Whats the diff?
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
The implication of the pot example is that it COULD be used as evidence of posession/consumption. So there's not much point to that.
One might think this is a clear-cut case of free speech. Until one considers the result of the famous MPAA vs. 2600 case, where 2600 was found to have violated the DMCA by merely LINKING to DeCSS, the code by DVD Jon that decrypted DVDs so that Linux computers could play them.
Another freedom, chipped away... And this one during the Clinton Administration. Sad for all of us.
That's using the internet to transmit gambling information.
Who is this law trying to save? The children? You need a bank account or credit card to gamble online. Last I checked, most teens have neither.
C'mon... of all victimless crimes, does online gambling really need legislation? Tax it like Nevada and be done with it.
I mean... Washington has a state lottery. That means they endorse gambling. It can't be gambling that they hate... I think they hate all gambling where the state isn't the house.
So what's next, WA outlawing poker on TV? After all, it's promoting poker electronically. So all WA residents can say "bye-bye" to TV shows like the World Series of Poker, Celebrity Poker Showdown, etc? Then after that there's all the movies that depict gambling in them - from classics like "The Sting" to movies like Casino, Oceans 11, etc.
That'll show the Chinese who can censor better.
What?
If they elect another Republican government, they will.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Why not make it illegal to link to a page that links to a page that links to gambling?
I can actually see how the legislators could see a reason to do that. Taxpayer X wants to link to a gambling site, but knows that that's illegal. So he links to a site that has links to gambling sites, and tells you to click through. (Even worse, maybe that link redirects to the gambling site!) So clearly this needs to be stopped as well.
And what about linking to a page that links to a page that links to a page that links to gambling?
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
the authors of Gnutella/eMule/bitTorrent software . . . after all, it gives you access to where all of that illegal content is, right?
Not taking steps to kill everyone you encounter enables them to commit illegal acts, and such enablement is illegal, so you have to kill people?
What? Murder is illegal?
So, what you're saying is that commiting an act is illegal as is not commiting it?
If I'm guilty of a crime by simply existing, then the law is fscked enough to be ignored in its entirety. And again, we come to the conclusion that murder is fine.
Jesting aside, the bigger issue here is one of grandfathering. Usually, when a physical state is no longer permitted, existing occurances of it are grandfathered, either for some time, or indefinately (think home wiring that was up to code when it was installed, but no longer is).
In this case, an existing web site suddenly became illegal by a legislative act. It takes time to change things, and yet there was no grace period in the legislation?
Clearly, legislators are clueless about information -- they appear to think it exists only when accessed and can't be prepared for such access beforehand.
You could've hired me.
Let's outlaw all media that shows killing. Like you know, that Schwarzenegger movie.
Microsoft Poker!
What are the implications running a crawler..?
Makes it your Google, MSN-search, Yahoo, AskJeeves, altavista, hotbot and many more illegal?
Or are they *again* going to be forced to filter out what "might be [illegal|offensive] in [state|country] xyz"...
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
Vice laws are a big fat waste of time really, they have never worked, and several thousand years of human history shows that the collective *we* enjoy various vices. Governments all over should just admit reality and move on to something constructive.
Isnt it illegal to limit freedom of speech(you cannt write about gambling sites)? o ya this is America...
"Telling people how to gamble online, where to do it, giving a link to it -- that's all obviously enabling something that is illegal."
Gambling is enabled by living...seriously, do these people even think anymore?
Okay kiddies! Let's play "BREAK THE INTERNET!"
You can't host, can't link, can't surf, can't, can't, can't.
Your computer's on? Can't have that! ARREST HIM!
Fuck, Yakov Smirnov's going to be moving back to Russia pretty soon.
In Russia, you go to parties to fuck.
In America, the parties fuck YOU!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Washington residents please add your signature
I'm sorry this is as bad as the DMCA.
I don't mind people deciding what kind of regulations they
want to have on gambling. There is a type of addiction some people
can have to it which argues for some restrictions, but I would do my utmost to oppose stopping someone from talking about it.
It is crossing a line and is undoubtedly unconstitutional.
then again I'm not sure that has stopped people when it came to the DMCA.
I don't like Nazi's but I'll support their right to tell people what they believe.
I don't like abortionist but I'll support their legal right to tell people what they believe.
What the conservatives pushing these laws don't realize is they are enabling the same kind of thing as the Canadian 'anti-hate speech' legislation which has made it very difficult to talk about the 'immorality' of homosexuality.
(something I'd be pretty certain they would not want to see happen here.)
in some ways they are cutting their own throats.
the problem is that not enough people are united on a topic everyone should agree on.
I may not support what you say but I am certainly going to support you right to say it.
I wonder if anyone has ever considered if the political spectrum is more like a circle then a line. The closer you get to the far left or the far right the more you resemble the opposite.
Myself I oppose Fascism I don't care if it is couched as 'conservative values' or 'broad minded liberal ideas'
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
"...that's all obviously enabling something that is illegal."
Well, fantastic. So you can follow this up by making guns, knives, shovels, cars, bleach, and God knows what else illegal since they're obviously enabling murder. Oh, and we may as well outlaw crime mystery books since they provide information on how to do illegal things. But let's not stop at burning just crime mystery novels. We ought to burn chemistry books since that knowledge can be used to create poisons and explosives. And let's outlaw cars because criminals are notorious for using cars in their getaways. I see no reason to stop there, though. I can think of a lot of other stuff we ought to just outlaw today!
hmm... does this mean that anyone in WA who types "online gambling site x is mighty fine" anywhere online is going to have govt peeps knocking on his door and putting him/her away for a million and billion of years? I wonder whats next. Porn sites?!?! Did somebody say separation of state and church?!
When will the powers that be realize that prohibition, in any form, just does not work?
This is just another example of the lengths they will go to prop up a broken prohibition system.
Unless you make all people mind-controlled robots you cannot tell them what they can and can't do with their own money, time and bodies!
Many stations also have nationally advertised commercials for gambling sites, with the web address and whatnot as well. I would assume the channels running them will all be facing felony charges as well? ESPN execs are going to be in a lot of trouble....
The republicans won't let me do drugs and now the democrats won't let me gamble. This sucks.
"or even DISCUSSING????"
Surely even the current supreme court is going to knock this down.
Surely this is free speech to even the most casual observer???
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I wonder if it is illegal to offer a online gambling to ip addressing coming from Mexico on a server running in Washington state ( but inaccessible from that state.)
;)
Time to raid the server farms everyone.
(how to get your competing server farm or web host if they are located in WA).
1) rent from the space
2) but up gambling sight ( using IP routed through foreign country.)
3) report to WA the violation ( rinse repeate).
Thus driving up your competitors operating costs because now they have to monitor every sight they host or be shut down.
( i know I know not that terribly realist but the thought was funny
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
As I mentioned in another thread on this topic, Wizards of the Coast (now owned by Hasbro) is based in WA state. People who play Magic the Gathering Online and compete in tournaments for prizes are breaking the new WA state gambling law. However, they are paying taxes on purchases from Wizards of the Coast, and Wizards pays WA state taxes.
The real basis behind this law was lobbying from the tribal casinos. They don't want people gambling online because they think those gamblers will then, in turn, be more likely to drive over to the casinos to play in person.
The unfortunate (meaning natural and good) fact of the matter is that laws which are not representative of the will of the people are virtually impossible to enforce.
Palm trees and 8
Something tells me that the Washington State Lottery will still get to promote itself online... apparently they also were even going to sell lottery tickets online but I can't find evidence of them still doing it.
You are reading a copy of my copyrighted post.
I'm a washington resident and I approved this message: www.partypoker.com
Now THAT crosses the line and should cause the law to be stuck down.
Speech is free for a reason.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I find it interesting that I now must quit my job. I live in Texas Doing DBA work for a company that sells the graphics to many of the internet casinos My ISP routs through Washington State to the client. I must quit, change ISP's, or go to jail Na let them come get me...
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
Your observation answers my key question: why would they risk having their law struck down by trying it out on a site which is probably not in violation? (I haven't read the text of the law, so I can't say for certain.)
Answer: because to the Indian tribe casinos, linking to gambling site causes at least as much harm as gambling on one. Anti-gambling activists would probably care more about the actual gambling sites, but those who stand to make money from gambling demand that they limit the exposure as well.
Maybe this will provide some legal leverage to go after people who spam blogs and forums with adds for online poker, etc?
By all means, let's attack free enterprise and free speech, let's start with this internet site which promotes gambling.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It's legal gambling on Indian lands there, now how about putting the servers on Indian lands, would that make the linking illegal?
Replace California with the new title of "People's Republik of Washington State"
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
The lotto commission will be shuting down their web site shortly, they list the problem gamblers help line there.
http://www.walottery.com/
Last I checked, playing the lottery is a form of gambling. Their own site gives info on how to play, winning numbers, etc.
Does the law not apply to them as well?
RD
Sheesh.
It seems to my little mind that linking to something on the Internet is essentially a form of speech, and should be protected under The U.S. Constitution. A hyperlink, after all, is really just a form of "see also". Is it illegal for me to write instructions telling people where to find brothels in Nevada, even though prostitution remains illegal in my state? I sure hope not. And if not, then what's the difference between that and linking to a Nevada brothel's web site? I hope that the Supreme Court will wake up and rule that all hyperlinks are speech protected by the First Amendment.
The Big News Page
I just realized something. Ma Bell is cooperating with Bush to keep track of all terror suspects. But anyone could be a terrorist, meaning "Ma Bush" must monitor everyone. "MaBus[h]" is what Nostradamus predicted would accellerate the end times and bring the comet. This means...
*head explodes*
Earthlings would would have been so much less paranoid if Nostradamus would have kept those stupid predictions to himself. I mean seriously, what good can come from them?
Washington has a huge number of brick and morter casinos and poker rooms who obviously are very happy about this law, but it's also a good indication that there's a lot of people in the state of like playing poker. With elections coming up in a few months, I hope this law get a lot of attention.
Washington state probably has the highest population of technical people and companies outside California. If they can't organize a recall vote over BS like this then I really have no sympathy for their lawmakers abusing them in this fashion.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
So, um... which one's yours? I'm hoping it's the first one, because -- dang -- that one's got some seriously vicious snark to it.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
That brings up a great question: what about MSFT search? Since they are located in WA, I presume they might be affected by this, no?
tpoker writes
That sounds dangerously close to NSFW, so I haven't clicked the link. Assuming it *is* what the name implies, though, makes this submission a bit ironic, eh?
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
"Gambling information," in legal terms, does not have this broad meaning.
It means the information necessary to conduct the game, wager on it, and inform the winners and losers.
For instance, it does not include the NFL/NBA/etc. odds printed in your local newspaper.
They're going to screw up and not actually end up banning gambling on the Internet...
This law is trying to save, uh.. "Brick & Mortar" casinos.
The irony is that WA state is banning online gambling at the same time they're allowing more and more casinos to be built, including privately-owned ones, and Tribal casinos that aren't actually on reservation property.
So I wouldn't go thinking this legislation is about actually safeguarding gullible people, or is based on some sort of principle. My bet is it's financed largely by WA state tribes and casino owners, and is mainly intended to keep people from leaving the state (via the internet) to gamble elsewhere.
...what about the children of terrorists?
If linking to WaReZ is illegal, then that this is illegal only makes sense.
I hope they both get struck down as unconstitutional.
Do i have to use a #2 pencil on these Lotto Forms ?!?
This is what I get with 'dict war':
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I guess you've rather outed yourself here on Slashdot. Anyone in the future can now cross-reference your posts to yourself. Hope you haven't ever said anything snarky about your past, current, or any future employers.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
This has got to be a First Amendment issue. There is a clear difference between talking about illegal activity, and performing illegal activity. Where is the ACLU on this where they might actually do something useful for once?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Thank goodness the children are now safe from the pseudo gambling that is found on this site.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
Is there even a federal ban on Internet gambling? I know some people who wish there was, but I'm not aware one has yet been passed. Of course any such ban will be attacked by off-shore gaming interests who will (rightfully) point out that this interference in commerce is completely against some free trade agreements the USA is party to at this time. Your congresscritter's reply looks like boilerplate handed out to defend the indefensible.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Apparently online gambling has always been illegal in Washington State as well as the rest of the US. http://www.wsgc.wa.gov/faq/internet_gambling.pdf I am not a gambler online or otherwise, but I still think this is crap and motivated by tax revenues.
I wish the Seattle Times made online archives that easy to get to.
SECTION 2 SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land
SECTION 5 FREEDOM OF SPEECH. Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.
US Constitution: (The supreme law of the land per the Washington State Constitution) http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/features/netpo rn/amndmnts.htm
1st Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...
Given Section 5 of the Washington State Constitution, I'll betcha this never makes it to the US Supreme Court.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
Native American Casinos hold great political sway in our great state of Washington. Many state senators, representatives and judges accept large tribal campaign contributions. These same "public" servants go on to pass and uphold anti-gambling legislation that conveniently exempts all Indian Casinos. Just wanted to make sure that no one is under the false assumption that Washington has suddenly become a red state. No, this is simply corrupt politicians paying back their deep-pocketed supporters under the guise of protecting families (par for the course here in the EverGREEN $tate).
You just misunderstand the actual objective. They make the voters feel more moral. It's sort of like the "truthiness" you keep hearing about. The voters feel that they live in a more moral community, a few people are made examples of, the police are given more power to harass and lean on people, corruption goes up, but by God, we've "sent a message." It's just like the fight over the Ten Commandments in the courthouse. It doesn't make anyone actually act more morally, but dammit, it makes the supporters feel better. See also: gay marriage amendment, prostitution laws, war on drugs, anti-pornography legislation, video game legislation, etc.
Is the next step going to be to make it illegal for websites about gambling to be viewable in Washington? Could I be in trouble if I were to put up a gambling site that someone in Washington viewed, or wouldthat person be in trouble for looking? Would I be "aiding and abetting" a crime by publishing information about it in my own state of California?
I'm curious as to whether or not this could be pushed into the Freedom of Information Act. It certainly violates the right to freedom of speech, and a Constitutional challenge could probably bring this law to a halt. A certain action may be a crime, but to read about how to carry out that act is considered informational. What is done with that knowledge is the crime. Keeping people in the dark should also be considered a crime.
In a world in which we can legally find out how to make bombs and where to (sometimes) legally obtain the supplies, should the politicians in Washington really be so concerned about people gambling and sharing information, or would a better use of their time be to combat online child porn?
This reminds me of China, and if I have to explain what I mean by that, go run into a doorknob.
It's a girl!
.. is against the law to... you take a gamble when you buy stocks.. yeah I know stocks are not gambling... technically no, but it is the same concept...
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
Washington State is shamelessly promoting gambling on its own website. http://www.walottery.com/
America, Land of the Free......Hahahaha!!!
Seeing my hometown pop up on the front page of Slashdot was more than my just waking self was prepared for. Bellingham is a small town, and I can't help but wonder if I know the guy.
Nothing hides evidence like a stew. -Gus Pratt
This is going to also be trouble for fantasy football players. This has long been a grey area for gambling. However, there are a ton of fantasy football sites. Yahoo, ESPN, CBS are just to name a few. So now, if you go to those sites and look at football stats you are going to get in trouble for gambling? This law is a waste of time and is going to cause more trouble than it is worth. The only reason it passed is because of all the Tribal Casinos in Washington.
You have a most entertaining way of making me seem like an idiot.
That is a shame, because that was not my intent at all, nor do I think it particularly true, as a jury system is the best so far for a system addressing the practical epistemological problems of ascertaining motive and you made your point well; I was just (admittedly very crankily) pointing out that your point, which is normally fairly true, ceases to be so when the law is very broad and so invites an unwarranted amount of prosecutorial or other discretion, and is also rarely true when the current public trend is to 'care' about the particular crime at issue. But like I said, I'm kind of a bad person, and so I was probably much meaner than I should have been. Interestingly what you make as a descriptive point I would make as a normative one as an argument agaist the practice of general surveillance; namely, that before a person is charged with a crime someone should care about the infraction, which in turn as a entails someone noticing that a the crime ever happened. If nobody noticed enough to be harmed, it isn't a crime no matter how severe a technical violation it is (there are of course a handful of exceptions to this idea, but it is a general thrust).
All the techniques ever used to make men moral have been themselves thoroughly immoral... (Nietzsche)
http://ceasarscasinolive.com/
http://www.amazinggamblingsystems.com/
http://www.gamblinggates.com/
KING-TV
He obviously hasn't said anything about his future employers...
..in that GTech press release. In lottery terms, 'online' means tickets sold and printed through dedicated terminals - it has nothing to do with the internet. However, that being said, you can buy lottery tickets on the internet just north of Washington State - in British Columbia http://www.playnow.com/
But aren't we talking about online gambling, too ? /. down now ?
Are they going to take
I'm just waiting for someone from the state of Washington to come and arrest me for getting shot. After all I clearly enabled the person with the gun to commit an illegal action. If I wasn't standing in the way of the bullet he would of never been able to assult me. -Todd
-Todd
Put down the sig, and step away from the computer.
>I mean... Washington has a state lottery. That means they endorse gambling. It can't be gambling that they hate... I think they hate all gambling where the state isn't the house.
Not all gambling. There are plenty of casinos on tribal land. Somebody looked up the campaign finance records for the legislator who sponsored this abomination. One campaign donation after another after another, all from places with financial interests in tribal casinos.
Draw your own conclusions.
Just as the Romans stupid empire died, bad taxes or evil taxes, ie, mafia style taxes, hmm no wonder the mafia was italian, must
be that old roman DNA.
Greeks had it right, sane low taxes, keep people happy.
After all, people will grumble at most if you wont supply some free service or extra road, but they
will crucify you if you jack up the taxes till it hurts.
Listen govts, if you want more dollars to do your work, god damn WORK FOR IT, by starting some monopoly business
or god damn BORROW it from the bank by dishing out BONDS. Taxes are STEALING, good as jesus tells you. Its pure
theft with no return.
Oh and why dont govt people work 830am to 530pm? like normal corporates. Why the lazy hours?
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Gambling is not illegal if properly licensed, therefore gambling online should be no different. duh.
As a side note, that's my town!
It's why we have a bigger system than just one person yanking laws out of their butt.
We have judges to review and disable laws that are overly broad, and we have enforcement that generally chooses not to enforce the stupidest of laws.
It sounds like a really dumb law, but then half of the crap coming out of the other washington is much worse these days. "Activist Judges" are exactly what's supposed to fix this problem.
Now how do we fix the other washington?
I bet this law won't stand up to first ammendment rights.
Ooops, good thing I'm not in Washington.
Oh You POS
No there is a federal ban on betting on sporting events using the telephone. Courts have already ruled that it doesn't apply to casino style games on the internet.
They should do what Pennsylvania did, all hard drink and most wines are sold through state stores, pulling in well over $400 million a year for the state.
If they really want to make money - all Alcohol should be through state stores.
All that Beer money should eliminate the need for taxes all together.
I can't wait for a district attorney to go after one of the state senators who voted for this bill by nailing them the next time they go online to buy tickets to vegas.
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
Washington is literally littered with casinos. There are probably 6-8 roadside and stripmall casinos within 5 miles of my house. These aren't the big Indian casinos either. They're maybe 6 tables, a bar, and a restaurant. If I want to take a 20 minute drive, I can hit the massive Tulalip tribal casino.
Washington has their own lottery, Quinto, MegaMillions, various scratch games, Lucky For Life, and more casinos per capita than I've seen anywhere other than Nevada.
It's just like when they went after people who were buying cigarettes over the Internet to get around the highest tobacco taxes in the country. Washington is trying to protect its revenues from all the gambling that goes on in state. I guess their philosophy is: "If you want to play poker, you can damn well get in your car and play it where Auntie Chris (a.k.a. Governor Gregoire) gets a piece of the action."
- G
Start a happiness pandemic
Did you sue them for false arrest?
No, because as is usual the situation is always more complicated than it originally seems. The protests and indeeed the whole fight was over privacy and disclosure procedures in the student disciplinary system and in particular whether a defendant had the right to waive the right to a closed hearing if they wished for an open one (like if for example a student predicted a high probability that a closed door hearing would lead to getting railroaded by the school). According to RI law it was clearly the case that state disciplinary hearings did have this openable aspect (and it was indeed a State school) and the ambiguities revolved around FERPA (1974) and its proper application to the situation. Still, one must admit it is a very odd (at best) legal doctrine that says one cannot divest themselves of a right at will.
We miraculously found a defendant crazy enough to agree to be a test case (one fraternity was getting royally and unfairly shafted...hey, sometimes it is fair, so we had to be choosy) and we busted into the meeting armed with our legal theory (and an ass-load of local press), hence 'opening it' to the public as the fraternity had requested it be. The school threatedned to arrest us if we did it again. Armed with that comment of course we could lure quite a bit more media to the second one ('hey, they promised an arrest for you guys!'). Think pictures of students in formal attire being thrown up against the wall and frisked and led away en masse...it was a nice public relations coup (and despite appearences, the cops were extremely professional). So,as it turns out we wanted the school to arrest us, because that's what the school had threatened to do if we were to interfere in the school judicial proceeedings again. It was technically a false arrest, since the crime we were charged with was an unsustainable charge and we were asserting that the meeting itself was illegal (and you can't, after all, disturb a meeting in a legal sense if it wa never legal to begin with) and so we used most of the political capital from the fiasco to leverage the school into re-looking at the rules; suing would have looked vindictive. The situation was also complicated by many of the studnets who had been arrested being high-ranking members of the student government, who had to maintain the ability to work productively with the school adminsitration. And of course the final factor in why we did not sue is the same old 'got no cash' reason.
As you might imagine, all in all it was quite a fun time (and boy did I learn more about practical criminal procedure than I ever cared to!).
All the techniques ever used to make men moral have been themselves thoroughly immoral... (Nietzsche)
What about advertising on tv for partypoker.net and the like? Will every network that shows these ads have to tailer their channel content fit for washington law?
There are two major obstacles to my plan but I'll give my plan anyway. One can argue that stock trading is gambling. Also, Microsoft's headquarters are in Washington State. One can hope that Microsoft will be held criminally liable for gambling in Washington.
The two obstacles involve the amount of money that Microsoft has. Given sufficient funds, the entire commercial sector can effectively (and literally) burn down the law firm that proposes to illegalize stock trading. Also, given sufficient funds, Microsoft can buy immunity if stock trading is ruled to be gambling.
----
Read "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" to enlighten yourself.
So recent noise has been about China not allowing certain links in search engines.
I live in Washington State, WHAT THE FUCK, freedom of press and speech are now illegal in my state. Seriously, can one person, including whatever dumbfucks passed this law tell me the difference between Washington State and China law is?
This is fucking insane. A link is just some fucking text. Nothing more. How can something like this be happening!? I swear, this has to be a sign that shits-a-changing. Why couldn't this kind of bullshit started years ago before I decided to have children. If my kids are going to live under corporate dictatorships, then I might have just not had kids. The fucked up thing is I am not even joking.
So, when is WA state going to start going after the really BIG offender?
Under this law, every time anyone in WA state Googles a gambling related word, Google is commiting a crime!
Ought to be most profitable for the State of Washington....
And, of course, every time anyone reads any of the posts about this story, or the story itself, the site is guilty of 'providing gambling related information.'
If fact, the way it's written, posting the text of the law is a violation....
Good thing you aren't required to even be aware of a law to be found guilty of breaking it!
Can't this guy move his web page to a host in a state where online gambling isn't legal? How would the law work then?
I'm gonna get a real kick out of seeing them -try- to go after a website with this "illegal" material that is not hosted in Washington state. God help the poor schlubs who live in that idiotic state. I passed thru Seattle/Tacoma last in 1971, and haven't been back since, and with this idiotic law, I don't plan to, ever again.... Big Brother is alive and well in Washington state.
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
And what about linking to a page that links to a page that links to a page that links to gambling?
...
I think they should've instead criminalized linking to goatse and tubgirl. I mean, you can be re-educated from your gambling habit, but once you have a single peek of these adventurous individuals you will be traumatized for the rest of your life. Not to mention the blinding effect and recurring flashbacks
If the black-robed idiots allowed the McCain-Feingold bill limiting polical speech during the 60 days before an election, this is right up the same alley.. I sure wish -somebody- would teach these idiotic congress-critters how the Internet works.. The only websites it can possibly affect are ones that are hosted IN Washington state.... I'd LOVE to see em -try- to arrest someone for putting up links to online gambling on a server, located, say here in Nevada...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
When you plan to patently lie and make shit up, at least do it credibly.
Or you could cite your source, but again, you're lying and making shit up, which is why you cited nothing.
I can summarize this for you, and probably do it more honestly and accurately than you did.
Students think they know what the fuck they are doing, and attempt to apply a legal doctrine inappropriately. They realize (after getting arrested, and most likely, speaking to attorneys) that they are idiots, and are wrong.
I love sefl-righteous imbeciles like you. I especially love when they think the law is on their side, only to realize they're too stupid to understand it, and then they get fucked.
That's what happened to you. And you know it, which is why you didn't sue.
And as an aside, civil attorneys take cases on contingency. If you had a case, you wouldn't have had to come up with any money.
But you didn't, and you know it, and so did all the attorneys.
I'm from Britain and even I can tell this is unconstitutional. Most arguments that revolve around breaking the First Amendment are really stupid (government should be able to stop young people from buying violent games etc.) but this is a clear violation of free speech. Also, I don't see why gambling is banned in the US (most states), you can't stop people gambling in private. Also, someone please explain to me how lotteries are legal in the "Land of the Free"
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I wish it said "linking to gambling and other illegal websites is illegal". Next time somebody asks you, suggest it, I'm sure they'll go for it.
That oughta put a stop to this internet thing.