Three More Organizations Weigh In on Kentucky


The recent seizures of online casino domains in the state of Kentucky have sparked a whole heap of controversy. The latest groups to get involved with the highly publicized seizure of the online casinos are the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electric Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union. The three organizations are supporting the seized domains because they believe in a concept called the freedom of the Internet. The reason why these organizations are so fired up about the seizure of 141 domains is mostly because they operate world wide, not just in the state of Kentucky. The group is claiming that the seizure of the internet gambling domains is threatening to free speech across the internet.

The online casino domains are global domains. The fate of these domains may just be decided by a state judge? Not if these organizations have anything to do with it. The arguments of these groups were filed in to the Court of Appeals recently. The group also brings up that the closing down of these global online casinos violates the Commerce Clause and this is something that the US Constitution prohibits. The law states that a state can not interfere with a website that operates outside of the state, especially if it was registered outside of the state. These are all very tough questions and claims that Judge Thomas Wingatge is going to have to face at both the December 3rd and 12th hearings for the iMEGA case.

The online casino battle is sure to wage on but who will be on the winning side? The Senior Staff Attorney of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Matt Zimmerman has commented on the way the Kentucky courts are handling this whole ordeal. "The court's theory - that a state court can order the seizure of Internet domain names regardless of where the site was registered - is not only wrong but dangerous. If the mere ability to access a website gives every court on the planet the authority to seize a domain name if a site's content is in some way inconsistent with local law, the laws of the most world's most repressive regimes will effectively control cyberspace," said Zimmerman. The things that the governor of Kentucky wants to do to block the domains he seized will cost a lot of money. Some argue whether closing down a few online casinos is worth it.