First gambling are we next?
 

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House committee on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at stamping out the $12 billion Internet gambling industry by stopping businesses from accepting credit cards and other forms of payment.

The bill, cleared by voice vote in the House Financial Services Committee, would prohibit a gambling business from accepting credit cards, checks, wire transfers and electronic funds transfers in illegal gambling transactions."

What's to stop them from using this method to ban porn?

internet porn isn't illegal.........yet.

internet gambling is illegal?

I believe that will violate the "free trade act" which has already been used to attack the US govt's ban on internet gambling.

In the U.S it is..

Tell that to republicans.

There is a big difference in online gambling and online porn.

Account gaming is illegal in the US. Account gaming means any sort of setup where there is "money" on deposit -- either real or extended credit -- that is available for gambling. The Wire Act of 1961 makes sports betting illegal on top of the account gaming prohibitions.

The only legal betting online is on horseracing and dogracing. The IHA established the legality of it, but there is still the account gaming situation, and the entire matter is up in the air right now due to the Antigua vs. United States WTO decision last year.

Until porn becomes illegal -- which is certainly possible if you think of the angles they could use to make it so -- there is not a direct correlation between gambling and porn.

However, the card associations, various banks, gateways, etc, could decide, for whatever reasons, that they don't want to allow 5967 transactions, and could decide to reject them all.

4mericanz r teh interweb polize!

damn government doesn't like the gamblers!

Na.. it's more like big business and the mob don't like the competition internet gambling brings to the casinos. Who do you think lobbies for this shit and bribes the politicians to gets this shit passed?

Most states have casinos now so there is a big gambling lobby. that's why bills liek this get passed. Once states realize how much more money they can take in by allowing internet gambling and taxing it. Laws like this will go away.