From the S.F. Chronicle
<<Internet Gambling Ban Puts Liberty at Risk
John Perry Barlow Thursday, June 15, 2000
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THERE IS AN OLD and ironic impulse in this ``land of the free.'' Despite a long history of practical failure, we continue to believe that, by force of government, we can keep ourselves from indulging our lesser desires. Despite our failure to prohibit the consumption of alcohol and the fact that we seem to be losing the ``war'' on illicit drugs, we remain determined to legally proscribe vice.
Our most recent foray onto the battlefields of virtue is even more ambitious than usual. The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1999 seeks to take the moral crusade against gambling to the global environment of cyberspace by banning it from the Internet.
However high-minded it may sound, this legislation is unconstitutional, impractical, unenforceable, and even, I would submit, immoral. Not only does it infringe on the rights of individuals, both American and foreign, it grossly advances federal authority over the states. That is, it would prevent states from using the Internet for state-run lottery games, an important source of revenue for a number of programs, including education.
People may disagree over the wisdom of state lotteries or gambling in general. But barring the use of the Internet for lottery ticket sales is a backhanded way to regulate these games that would establish the dangerous precedent by allowing the American government to use the Internet as a social policy tool in areas where it has no legal authority.
As the National Governors' Association said recently in a letter to Congress, ``States possess the authority to regulate gambling within their own borders and must continue to be allowed to do so. An incursion into this area with respect to online gambling would establish a dangerous precedent with respect to gambling in general as well as broader principles of state sovereignty.'' I expect leaders of sovereign nations might have similar concerns, inasmuch as most of the Internet's gambling servers are located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the United States. Unfortunately, most of them are too busy attempting to regulate themselves to notice our efforts.
Right now, the Internet is limited only by the creativity of the millions who use it and help it evolve every day. When state governments (or governments at any level) take advantage of its properties to interact more effectively with citizens, we should applaud. What's troubling is American cyberimperialism -- an attempt to tell the states and foreign countries what they can or cannot permit their citizens to do over the Internet. Once again, the U.S. government is demonstrating the downside of thinking locally and acting globally. The nation's governors are on the mark -- not just because they should have the right to protect their sources of revenue but because of the dangerous precedent that would accustom Congress to placing prohibitions on Internet usage. This particular prohibition may not seem all that chilling to many people, but it would close one door. Once closed, these doors may be impossible to open again.
The next prohibition may affect all of us and begin a slow erosion of the independence and freedom of the Internet. We should be extremely wary of any government asserting jurisdiction over a global medium that has been such a driving force of economic growth and free expression.
The Internet, a medium that enhances commerce, promotes individual genius and opens even the most closed societies by exposure to new ideas, should not become a political tool for lawmakers' social policy goals. We must protect the Internet from governmental abuse and derail any legislation that seeks to place it under wraps.
In cyberspace, we are now layings the foundations of a worldwide political architecture that will serve the liberties and aspirations of our descendants. What we do now will determine what is politically possible for generations yet unborn. Whatever the urgency of our current moral concerns, they pale against the higher morality of liberating everyone's future.
John Perry Barlow is the co-founder of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, an organization that promotes freedom of expression in digital media. He also is a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.>>
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