Kentucky Court upholds domain seizures

In a ruling late last week, a Kentucky Court upheld the Commonwealth’s right to seize gambling-related domain names if the companies behind the domains failed to appear in court to prove that they are making good-faith efforts to block traffic from Kentucky.

The case stemmed from a request to the court by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear in September. Beshear requested that the court seize some 141 domain names that represented businesses who were, in the Governor’s mind, doing business illegally in Kentucky. His request was contested by a wide array of groups, but ultimately affirmed by Friday’s decision.

Some fear the ruling with have negative ramifications far beyond the online gambling arena. “What Judge Wingate has done is to create the ‘ultimate weapon’ to be used by the powerful and influential to attack content they oppose,” said Joe Brennan Jr., chairman of iMEGA. “This will enable government to eliminate competition from differing ideas, beliefs and commerce. This decision today is where it starts, but where will it stop?”

Advocates for online poker took a similarly negative view of the ruling. “Clearly, we believe the judge in this case got it wrong,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. “First of all, we strongly disagree with Judge Wingate’s ruling that poker is not a game of skill. As demonstrated in the amicus brief we filed, skill plays an essential role in being a successful poker player. Additionally, we believe that by confirming Governor Beshear’s actions, the court has set a dangerous precedent for censorship of the Internet. Today’s ruling is a big step backward for both personal rights and Internet freedom.”

State and Federal appeals to the ruling are already being prepared.