I just realized how great it is that I have no earthly idea what you're talking about. Still, I went and changed it. Thanks for making mention of it. I try not to get too wrapped up in that site. I'm still annoyed that the fucking movie got nominated for Best Picture, even though the Oscars are complete bullshit. Then again, I haven't actually seen it, so maybe it's good. I avoided it on principle, because I think it's just another example of people taking Facebook WAYYY too seriously.
Hello tax return Friday, glad to see you safely made it into my checking account. Fuck it...I'ts been a while, I'm buying a bottle of something awesome today.
Was this posted before? I don't remember, oh well. It's Friday and you know what that means, it's time to watch Milly fight in the octagon:
Because it saves them money. I've never checked in anywhere. Maybe I will when there are deals where I live.
Hope nobody around here does that online poker thing... FBI just seized the domains of a ton of poker sites. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doj-indicts-founders-of-top-us-online-poker-sites-2011-04-15-1358350?link=MW_latest_news" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doj-in ... atest_news</a> <a class="postlink" href="http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/reuters-full-tilt-poker-pokerstars-absolute-poker-charged-illegal-gambling-1020606/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/ne ... g-1020606/</a> All I want to know is if that is banner #7, as per the image tag, what are the previous 6?
This is fucking HUGE. The FBI, with this action, has laid claim to the domain registry. The WORLD WIDE domain registry. These are non-US companies, using non-US domain registrars, that have had their domains taken away by the FBI. Online poker or gambling isn't the story here, by a long shot. Shit just got real.
And if I read point #3 that their banner is making, does that not mean that everyone that has received any kind of a payout, or paid into the sites, is also guilty of a felony?
The best hack is the one that you don't know happened. And yes, there's an easy hack to get around this. Set your local hosts file to the IP's that you'd normally get from the DNS servers, and shit will still work for you. As it is, it seems the clients are still working because you usually don't rely on DNS for the server connections with those clients, the IP's are hard-coded as DNS can be a potential attack vector. The hard part will be dealing with the 75 frozen/seized bank accounts... but I'm assuming they aren't the ones that were used for the collection or disbursements of funds. But who knows... maybe they were?
It will be very interesting to see how the sites deal with this, and what technical workarounds the sites and clients will do to get shit working again. More importantly, it'll be interesting to see what technical shit the US government will be able to do to stop those workarounds. Right now, it's just DNS, which is somewhat simple for them to take control of. Again, that's pretty simple to work around; all it takes is getting the word out. Sure, it'll open up the window for some phishing sites to pull the "no this is the real IP address of Full Tilt Poker, no really!" scam, but that'll have a rather short window of opportunity, I'd guess. I wonder if the sites will just switch to a non-US controlled domain, like a lot of the torrent trackers seem to have done, and how effective that will be? But if the US starts doing low-level network shenanigans, that's the interesting shit I'd like to see... just how many of the tinfoil hat conspiracy theories are legit?
Wait a minute. Are they really trying to obtain non-US domains, or not? Are US authorities trying to exercise jurisdiction where (to my knowledge) they have none? I'm not familiar with international laws, particularly when it comes to the Internet. Basically, are they in the right to seize these domains, or did the rest of the world just get another reason to hate us for our bravado? I'm confused, because according the report you initially posted, "against the founders of the three largest internet poker companies operating in the U.S." So if it's in the US, there should be no problem there, correct? Like I said, I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff.
All of these companies openly accept customers using U.S. IP addresses/accounts. Thus, they're operating in the U.S. A big part of the issue is whether online poker is actually "gambling."
Keep in mind this is the same government that, in a Federal Court in Miami, indicted the president of a sovereign nation for violations of US laws and then invaded that same nation to capture him. (Noriega and Panama for the seriously impaired)
They have claimed that the companies involved are operating in the US, as Nom says, because they accept US clients/IP's as customers. They have also then seized .com domains, which are not "US" domains, but are supposed to be international. Those are the 2 biggest things I see from a legal standpoint. The .com seizure has long been a potential issue with ICANN, and the naysayers seem to have been correct. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.icann.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.icann.org</a> The US does/should not have arbitrary control over international domains, such as .org, .net, .com, etc. Only .us
For me it's more of making a donation to a bunch of peoples accounts. I can only play poker in person. That is pretty fucking nuts though. If I had "Pokerstars founder" money I'd send the FBI a sheet cake the size of a flatbed trailer with a huge cock and balls on it with the message of "suck my dick". I'd rather see the FBI investigate some of the shenanigans surrounding the bailed out banks, their officers, and such. Fucking gubberment.
It is, and everyone who engages in any form of gambling or provides an avenue for it (without a license, etc) is breaking Federal law, technically. I bet the problem wouldn't be such an emergency to the Feds if they could easily tax the activity. But they can't, so voila!
I think this all comes down to cash. They've long been wanting to tax internet sales, and off-shore gambling was never taxed. There is legalized local online gambling, but it's only been "regulated" and allowed because it is being taxed. The reason 99% of these companies moved offshore was to get rid of that tax.I would imagine, in the long run, that some sort of deal will be made with the gaming companies that sees taxes coming in. The key to all that legal talk in their notice, to me, is the "illegal" part. All it would take to make it legal is the government saying "you're legal".
Please... Like I'd lower myself to drink Canadian Whiskey. YEAH I PUT THE EXTRA "E" INTO "WHISKEY! WHAT OF IT?!