Home / Poker News June 2009 / Minnesota apparently unable to push ISP censorship through
Minnesota apparently unable to push ISP censorship through
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2009-06-07 13:05
In case you haven’t yet heard about it: in late April, Minnesota’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement division has undertaken an unprecedented legal move to order local ISPs to block 199 internet domains for the state’s residents. Among these domains were some of the most prominent online gambling and poker sites, deemed illegal by the state of Minnesota, based on the 1961 wire act. Blocking certain internet domains in a country often called the “land of the free” would definitely not pass unnoticed and unchallenged though. The public outcry over the move was great and actions against the order started pouring in soon.
The first such suit was filed by the Interactive Media and Entertainment Gaming Association, and it was aimed at disrupting the enforcement process for the order.
Minnesota State representative Pat Garofalo, who has been at the forefront of the Poker Players Alliance’s efforts to stop the enforcement action, announced a few days ago that the state was dropping the enforcement of the order, after the legal basis behind the move was reconsidered. The PPA wasted no time in claiming a major victory for online gaming, gambling and poker interests in the United States, however, enforcement action hasn’t yet been officially dropped by the government.
If the State of Minnesota does decide to drop the enforcement procedure which is supposed to follow the notices sent out to various local Internet Service Providers, it will indeed be a major victory for the online poker and gambling industry as it will provide a precedent towards the ineligibility of the 1961 Wire Act to justify such legal measures (the UIGEA itself has a lot to do with the restrictions imposed by the above named Wire Act). That would provide a valuable weapon in the industry’s fight for the repeal of the infamous 2006 UIGEA.
Whether or not it will mark a milestone in the ongoing legal war between internet users and governing entities over the use of the internet as a communications medium, the dropping of the censorship attempt will definitely have a positive echo with Minnesota based poker players and with people generally concerned about Internet Freedom.
