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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.
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.
...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
> 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.
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.
Well, they just got rid of Knock-and-Announce for all intents and purposes (for a cute current USSC highlight), so the question isn't what they are going to do. The question is how much. I dunno, you wanna take bets on how badly they bone the First Amendment? (For all you creepy-crawlies--that means you, Slashdot laywer lurkers!--I'm well aware that the First Amendment does not apply directly to the states, but is rather incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment. Just so you don't gang-bang my post, you see.) My personal wager is that they find some way to justify this law using national security! Hah, wager! I crack me up.
All the techniques ever used to make men moral have been themselves thoroughly immoral... (Nietzsche)
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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...
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
Yes, the first one is mine.