Battleangel

Internet gambling: Who is really in charge of the internet? and the myth of the borderless internet.

The myth of the borderless internet, never very credible to those who had any real understanding of the interplay between politics and technology that underpins the network, took another hit last week when the US Congress voted to ban bank and credit card payments to gambling firms.

If President Bush signs the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law, as he is expected to do, then within months US credit card companies and banks will be forced to check for and refuse payment for most forms of online gambling.

Whether or not you approve of gambling or online gambling, and whether or not you think that this move smacks of hypocrisy or is a blatant attempt to protect the US gaming industry from overseas competition, the law provides a good example of how governments can control the internet.

Too bad the measure is so clearly disingenuous, because limiting the effects of gambling could have been a fairly decent, though of course futile, thing to do. Plus, it also brings the total sum of moral capital when it comes to criticizing other nations for censoring the net to zero.