If you’re online, you’re in America, as far as US cops are concerned

Last week, US cops seized the domain name of a Canadian gambling website, giving the unbelievable excuse that:

Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country.

To clarify: You can’t flout US law simply by not being in the country. It is hard to view this act as anything short of America claiming jurisdiction over the entire internet, whether or not the company is itself from the US.

As the easyDNS blog reports:

At the end of the day what has happened is that US law (in fact, Maryland state law) as been imposed on a .com domain operating outside the USA, which is the subtext we were very worried about when we commented on SOPA.

Even though SOPA is currently in limbo, the reality that US law can now be asserted over all domains registered under .com, .net, org, .biz and maybe .info (Afilias [the company which runs the .info domain] is headquartered in Ireland but operates out of the US).

This is no longer a doom-and-gloom theory by some guy in a tin foil hat. It just happened.

The ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of US federal and state lawmakers (not exactly known their cluefulness nor even-handedness, especially with regard to matters of the internet).

The wave of sites which went dark in protest over the stop online piracy act (SOPA) included several British ones, including Liberal Conspiracy; but this latest move demonstrates that, at least online, what America wants, America gets.

See also:

• How we sold off the right to protest to the one per cent – Alex Hern, November 3rd 2011

• The privatisation of public space is harming our ability to protest – Alex Hern, October 30th 2011

• Despite Mosley’s court defeat, press freedom remains under attack – Michael Harris, May 11th 2011

• The CPS, judiciary and Yasmin Alibhai Brown just don’t get Twitter – Michael Harris, November 13th 2010

• New Bill will drag libel laws from the 19th century into the 21st – Michael Harris, June 2nd 2010

Nick

The underlying issue is whether the people and entities involved in this case were providing internet gambling services to individuals in the USA – and seeking to avoid the prohibition on internet gambling by basing their servers etc. in Canada. I am not aware of the US authorities interfering with companies in the UK (using .com etc domains) who provide internet gambling to individuals in the UK.

By analogy – would you say that it was alright for persons selling child porn over the internet to individuals in the UK to avoid the impact of UK criminal law merely by locating their servers in a lawless jurisdiction outside the UK?
http://twitter.com/ericthehamster/status/175275358650761216 eric the hamster

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/otk7Dbmj by @alexhern #extradition ?
http://twitter.com/kannaniyyer/status/175275691598807040 kannaniyyer

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/otk7Dbmj by @alexhern #extradition ?
http://twitter.com/contentiousmoi/status/175280585730826240 ContentiousMoi

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/otk7Dbmj by @alexhern #extradition ?
http://twitter.com/amandafessenden/status/175286704607989760 Amanda Fessenden

If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/6GgiE6pC
http://twitter.com/socialmedialaw1/status/175294566323326976 Social Media Law

RT @noxhanti @leftfootfwd: If ur online, ur in US, as far as US cops concerned: http://t.co/eXlGcEbB by @alexhern
http://twitter.com/spamless/status/175299245384011776 Dallman Ross

If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/BJcL9Sa9 by @alexhern
http://twitter.com/tommyvandepitte/status/175323162576306176 Tommy Vandepitte

USA rules the world http://t.co/XUDBx6ik , just as the EU (privacy), UK (bribery act), … Don't you love #globalisation?
http://twitter.com/kieran_es/status/175366199981514752 Kieran Gallie

Canadian domain seized for violating US law :http://t.co/0mB0maHN
http://twitter.com/postpolionews/status/175415098171592705 Chris Salter

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/k7H3Krry #ppnews
http://twitter.com/carbonised/status/175435504613990400 Rebecca Devitt

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/k7H3Krry #ppnews
http://twitter.com/magsnews/status/175511266536865792 MagsNews

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/ElKeJtiu
http://twitter.com/havantacluotmp/status/175519074535739393 Jeni Parsons

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/MKT7nM9M USA rules OK? Well, no, actually
http://twitter.com/stephenwalker/status/175522080060747776 Stephen Walker

If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned: http://t.co/BJcL9Sa9 by @alexhern
http://twitter.com/jrodwyer/status/176375301008400385 Julia O’Dwyer

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/03/world-outside-westminster-04-03-12/ The World Outside Westminster – Romney marches on towards Super Tuesday reckoning | Left Foot Forward

[...] If you’re online, you’re in America, as far as US cops are concerned – Alex [...]
http://twitter.com/Newsbot9 Newsbot9

Then you haven’t paid attention, they did indeed hit Channel Isle companies which didn’t specifically advertise in the US several years ago.
http://twitter.com/shanawilcox1/status/176389871122915329 shana wilcox

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO
http://twitter.com/jrodwyer/status/177680401966432256 Julia O’Dwyer

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO
http://twitter.com/sharpcoupe/status/177685454282424320 Dave Sharp

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO
http://twitter.com/metalsamurai/status/177700870954299394 Kevin Davidson

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO
http://twitter.com/lenfirewood/status/179729092319510529 Len Firewood

RT @leftfootfwd: If you're online, you're in America, as far as US cops are concerned http://t.co/QtcjXIgo #Extradition #RichardO