US Law Suits
Despite their halting of online gambling ads in April, Yahoo and Google were among 13 search engines and Web portals targeted last month by a class action lawsuit alleging that they illegally accepted advertising revenue from online casino and sports book operators over the last two-plus years.
Shortly thereafter Casino City rose up to carry to the flag as the first company to formally challenge the legality of the U.S. Justice Department's attempt to suppress advertising for Internet gambling services. The company has filed a motion for a declaratory judgment stating that the application of aiding and abetting charges to advertising for legal overseas companies violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. If successful, Casino City's case could put an end to what many consider a chilling effect that has left many advertisers in the United States afraid to place ads for online gambling.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced last week that U.S. authorities have arrested over 100 cyber crime suspects and filed 117 criminal complaints for various acts of online fraud since June 1. Ashcroft said the effort, dubbed "Operation Web Snare," was "the largest and most successful collaborative law-enforcement operation ever conducted to prosecute online fraud, stop identity theft and prevent other computer-related crimes." The 160 cases investigated in Operation Web Snare involved 150,000 victims and over $215 million worth of losses. None of the cases involved online gambling.
Cyprus Plans to Regulate I-Gaming
The Cypriot government for the last six months has been working to create a new legislative framework for online gambling. Poppleston Allen, a British law firm that has been assisting the government, says a draft bill is nearly complete. A government subcommittee will scrutinize the draft bill within the next two months.
Spanish Gaming Interests Seek Legal Clarification
Several Spanish gaming and leisure companies and associations are calling for legislation to govern the country's unregulated Internet gambling industry because they believe it is making it difficult for traditional gaming companies to expand. Some of the companies also want to clarify regulatory differences between Spain's autonomous regions because they often compete with each other to entice companies to relocate by lowering tax levels.
China Closing Online Pornography Sites
The Chinese government initiated extermination efforts against Internet pornography on July 16 and reported its progress 10 days later. Within those 10 days, police had arrested 224 people and shut down close to 700 pornographic Web sites (though there was no mention as to whether the sites were local or based offshore). Those arrested are allegedly the operators of popular Web sites that charge visitors to view pornographic content.
Police Monitor Internet in Vietnam
A new police unit under Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security has been established to combat Internet crimes. The unit will focus on credit card fraud, hacking, the posting of banned information and online gambling. It will also have the power to collaborate with Internet service providers, universities, banks, former hackers and other security forces. This follows a March order by the Ministry of Culture for all local governments in the communist country to closely monitor all information sent or read via the Internet. New regulations also passed in March state that Internet cafe owners could be fined or jailed for allowing clients to download or send "bad information," which includes pornographic and subversive content. Cafe owners are also required to document what Web sites clients view. Over the last two years, the government has sentenced many dissidents to long prison terms for using the Internet to criticize the government and promote democracy.