Kentucky (secretly) commandeers world's most popular gambling sites

Kentucky (secretly) commandeers world's most popular gambling sites

www.theregister.co.uk

The state of Kentucky has seized control of some of the world's most popular gambling domain names courtesy of a state judge who issued a secret ruling last week ordering registrars to transfer 141 internet addresses to the state's top law enforcement official.

The order 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...

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Is this any different to theft?

I know that one online casino has recently been accused of game fixing so I'm not that much of a fan of online gambling dens but I don't like the way a court can take a domain name from a rightful (with proof) owner and give it to another entity. I don't care that the other entity is a government body. This is wrong on so many levels.

www.theregister.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Some more of the article:

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, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear waxed hyperbolic on the perils of online gambling, saying here it is "tantamount to a virtual home invasion."

Kentucky (secretly) Commandeers World's Most Popular Gambling Sites

This will back-fire against the court system and registrars. Obviously, the domain names' real owners will just restart under different names.

It is because clowns like Beshear focus on things like the internet and internet gambling that half of the students in my sons class at school had no textbooks.

When punching on a keyboard gets a gun to my head, gets me beaten and raped, and all my property trashed and stolen, then we can talk. If one is an online gambling addict all they have to do to "rehab" themselves is come on down in May for Derby week, then stay and visit wholesome non homeinvasion gaming sites like ChurchHill Downs every day!

Hypocrite much??

Im sorry but a Judge in the US order isn't going to make people give up domain names registered offshore.
These must have been onshore domains which of course online gambling is illegal so he could make them give them up.
My friend has a whole online casino in Gibraltar and he has never been there.
And he live in Texas.

reply to post by Interestinggg


My understanding is that these domains were not all registered by someone living in the U.S nor were all the sites hosted in the U.S. The registrant's details have already been changed to reflect Kentucky's ownership of them:

The who is info:

Domain Name: GOLDENCASINO.COM

Registrant:
Commonwealth of Kentucky
Michael Brown ([email protected])
xxxxxxx
Kentucky,40601
US
Tel. +1.85925xxxxx

(I've removed the full contact details).

The idea is that the Kentucky will keep the domain names until the sites' owner agrees to block access from Kentuckians. Ransom and extortion come to mind.

[edit on 25/9/08 by Rapacity]

i think it's all bs.

i live in kentucky.

our governor just got elected ..his motto the whole election was to legalize gambling.

he got in office because we wanted gambling.
then he did this to us.

Originally posted by beforetime
i think it's all bs.

i live in kentucky.

our governor just got elected ..his motto the whole election was to legalize gambling.

he got in office because we wanted gambling.
then he did this to us.

Perhaps that's actually part of it. Perhaps the people of Kentucky are to be prevented from non-Kentuckian gambling sites because the governor intends to legalise and promote home-grown gambling sites. Who knows what the man is thinking.

That aside, I'm not a fan of gambling, on-line or otherwise, myself but this is pretty obscene. Neither does it help stereotypes regarding over-agressive American policies that impact on non-Americans; 'you do it our way'.

Maybe AP will sort themselves out now and we will see less of those shocking bad beats on there