Well, it has become apparent that I am going to have to make a trip to Washington. Rep. Goodlatte's bill to ban internet gambling has made it to the House floor for a vote.
Lest you shrug this off as an 'it doesn't affect me' situation, listen to what the bill will put into action if made a law:
1) Banks must monitor financial transactions more closely, to make sure their customers aren't spending money on illegal sites.
2) Internet service providers must both attempt to block access to internet gaming sites and/or monitor their customer activity to prevent access to internet gaming sites.
3) Only Rep. Goodlatte's bill has any financial support for ISPs and banks to perform these tasks, and his is limited to $10 million. This paltry amount will not come close to being sufficient to monitor the $6 billion American internet gaming industry.
What does this mean?
Your money will be watched. Your internet activity will be watched (or hell, even blocked). You will have to pay extra fees to banks who have to make up for the time and money they spend watching your activities. And you won't be able to play poker, God no.
But, rest assured, you will be able to bet on horse racing.
What, you say? How can this be? Isn't all internet gambling being restricted? No, not so. Poker, casino gaming, dog racing and bingo are four examples of those activities that will be deemed illegal should HR4777 become a law. However, horse racing got a special exemption. Not just a special exemption, but the Department of Justice itself sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee stating that internet horse race gambling should not be included in this bill.
Horse racing = good.
Dog racing = bad.
I'm not a smart man, but as far as I can tell, the only difference between a horse race and a dog race is the animal you are betting on. I guess that the horse racing fans carry a bit more sway in Congress than do the dog racing gamblers.
This is your Congress, America. We have elected officials that want to ban access to certain sites on the internet, which is exactly what this administration ridiculed China for doing. We are losing privacy. We are losing the right to free speech. We are losing the right to make our own decisions.
Please write your elected representatives and tell them not to support this bill. The intrusion on each citizens rights is too much to bear. Suggest legislation that taxes this $6 billion a year industry. We could use the tax money generated to fund, I don't know, say, the rebuilding of New Orleans or to provide education funding?
Links to relevant articles will be posted later today or tomorrow.
Lest you shrug this off as an 'it doesn't affect me' situation, listen to what the bill will put into action if made a law:
1) Banks must monitor financial transactions more closely, to make sure their customers aren't spending money on illegal sites.
2) Internet service providers must both attempt to block access to internet gaming sites and/or monitor their customer activity to prevent access to internet gaming sites.
3) Only Rep. Goodlatte's bill has any financial support for ISPs and banks to perform these tasks, and his is limited to $10 million. This paltry amount will not come close to being sufficient to monitor the $6 billion American internet gaming industry.
What does this mean?
Your money will be watched. Your internet activity will be watched (or hell, even blocked). You will have to pay extra fees to banks who have to make up for the time and money they spend watching your activities. And you won't be able to play poker, God no.
But, rest assured, you will be able to bet on horse racing.
What, you say? How can this be? Isn't all internet gambling being restricted? No, not so. Poker, casino gaming, dog racing and bingo are four examples of those activities that will be deemed illegal should HR4777 become a law. However, horse racing got a special exemption. Not just a special exemption, but the Department of Justice itself sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee stating that internet horse race gambling should not be included in this bill.
Horse racing = good.
Dog racing = bad.
I'm not a smart man, but as far as I can tell, the only difference between a horse race and a dog race is the animal you are betting on. I guess that the horse racing fans carry a bit more sway in Congress than do the dog racing gamblers.
This is your Congress, America. We have elected officials that want to ban access to certain sites on the internet, which is exactly what this administration ridiculed China for doing. We are losing privacy. We are losing the right to free speech. We are losing the right to make our own decisions.
Please write your elected representatives and tell them not to support this bill. The intrusion on each citizens rights is too much to bear. Suggest legislation that taxes this $6 billion a year industry. We could use the tax money generated to fund, I don't know, say, the rebuilding of New Orleans or to provide education funding?
Links to relevant articles will be posted later today or tomorrow.
posted by Sisyphus at 4:35 PM
1 comments
