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Florida House Passes Bill To Ban "Internet Cafes"
squiggleslash writes "Concerned about their use as fronts for gambling operations, the Florida legislature passed a law banning Internet cafes. The law appears to be a reaction in part to the recent stepping down of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, embroiled in a scandal involving a company that operates Internet Cafes. More ordinary cafes with Wi-fi, where you supply your own computer (such as Starbucks), are not affected by the ban." The nomenclature here is confusing; the bill (PDF) (summary) is clearly aimed only at "cafes" that are essentially gambling venues; an Internet cafe wouldn't violate the proposed rule merely by providing computers. Whatever you think of prohibitions on gambling among consenting adults, the bill itself is sort of amusing for its very specific loopholes for bingo and "reverse vending machines."
If gambling is already illegal...why do they need another law? Perhaps they need to fix their gambling statute instead.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I'm not a huge fan of banning something for everyone because a minority of miscreants are incapable of using it responsibly. The lawmakers, in their seemingly endless struggle to legislate every hot button topic that reaches the news feeds, make themselves and their silly rules less relevant with each new weighty tome of regulations. It's not that human kind has moved beyond the need for codes of conduct, far from it, but once everything is against the law we are all lawbreakers.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
If you are trying to stop poor people from spending their money unwisely you better also ban
Check cashing places (get a bank account)
Title and payday loan places (90% plus of their business preys on the disadvantaged)
Rent-To_own centers (usurious interest and crappy products all for only 99 cents a week. You can get this $300 computer for $3000 when you are paid off)
While we are at it:
Lottery tickets
Mountain Dew (hell most soda)
Malt Liquor
Fast Food
Cigarettes
Money is better spent educating those that can be.
Silence is a state of mime.
I thought the reason Carroll stepped down was because of her connection with Allied Veterans, the supposed charity for veterans that turned out to be a huge scam?
which, for the poor, this type of business is useful and helpful. So it must be an attack on the poor.
Regardless of if you can gamble at an Internet cafe, the business serves other uses.
It's like banning car rental places because some people use cars to commit crimes.
They're using their grammar skills there.