No need for SOPA, VeriSign seizes bodog.com for US authorities

[Julio Franco]

The Department of Homeland Security has seized the domain of online gambling website bodog.com after the US Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland unsealed a two-part indictment Monday.

It is the result of data and intelligence gathered during an investigation by the FBI and IRS dating back as far as 2006, which also included the assistance of a former employee. Four persons working for the entertainment company stand accused of conducting an online sports betting business in violation of the Illegal Gambling Business Act as well as engaging in a money laundering conspiracy.

Interestingly, bodog.com is run by Canadian billionaire Calvin Ayre and the domain was purchased through a Canadian registrar. None of the defendants are believed to be US citizens. US authorities never approached the Canadian registrar to enforce the seizure, instead they used .com and .net domain operator VeriSign to alter the "glue" records and take down the website, according to the seizure warrant (PDF) paperwork.

By sidestepping the Canadian registrar, VeriSign sends a worrying message to anyone else with a .com or .net domain, especially if authorities consider these TLDs to be American property. It also raises the question: why do we need SOPA again?

According to the indictment, the accused moved money from several accounts in Canada, England, Malta and Switzerland to the US to pay for advertising firms, including $42 million to an undisclosed media reseller in the US between 2005 and 2008. It's also said that the defendants paid out $100 million in winnings to US gamblers, despite the strict laws regarding certain gambling in the US.

"Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country," US attorney Rod Rosenstein said in a statement.

Ayre responded to the allegations on his blog, calling the case an "abuse of the US criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large US corporations." He continued, "It is clear that the online gaming industry is legal under international law and in the case of these documents it is also clear that the rule of law was not allowed to slow down a rush to try to win the war of public opinion."

All four could face extradition to the US if caught by authorities, and if convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison for the money laundering count as well as five years for operating an illegal gambling business.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/47634-no-need-sopa-verisign-seizes-bodogcom-us-authorities.html

 

[KG363]

Absolutely ridiculous

 

[Guest]

SO....tell me again why some people want the government more intrusive in our lives? This is getting annoying. Even though it doesn't affect me, I still don't like it.

 

[Guest]

I have a bad feeling about this year. The end result seems to me could be as much as ten percent (more?) of the internet simply blocking access to Americans. :/

 

[treetops]

sigh if only law enforcement did what the people who pay them want them to do, does anyone really care if some guy in maryland is gambling on his computer? iv said it before and ill say it again go bust some meth labs!

 

[Trillionsin]

trolled, for shame

of course I am kinda only joking around... hardly read the article, but mildly making a small point?

 

[Archean]

I'll repeat my twitter comment on this story earlier on i.e. '.com/.net (or any other US controlled domains) have simply lost value'.

 

[veLa]

The government doesn't need new laws to enforce what they want. Only to clarify their agenda which is bullshit anyway.

 

[Guest]

Ok this is retarded. Internationaly it is legal to gamble online and Canada is where the poeple who owns the company lives and based out of.. Now tell me wtf is the usa doing stucking their nose in this.. Usa rules usa... Not usa rules canada.

 

[Mindwraith]

I'm glad they took down a gambling site, but this is still really scary. how can america just enforce their laws upon other countries?

 

[MrTomTom]

"Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country,"
US attorneys logic: if's it's illegal in Maryland, it's illegal in Canada as well.

 

[Guest]

I think this shows the need to for legal definitions of which country owns .coms and such. Since the internet is inherently international, I think these kind of things should be either considered as being in international waters or subject to the laws of the land in which the host server is located. It is arrogant to assert US ownership over something explicitly international. What more, regarding the gambling, even if Maryland is against it, what say Nevada. It can't be right to seize an international domain due to an infringement of such a small place's law. After all, you could almost as easily make a phone call from anywhere in the world to a bookie's joint to place a bet.

 

[Guest]

Now I've heard it all. So if someone places a bet on the internet it's illegal to pay them if they win now?

...and it gives them the right to take down their website?

I think this type of enforcement abuse will simply be the start of the way the internet used to be before it came to the forefront and became public and once again go underground with more and more private networks springing up.

First serving files is illegal such as fileserve.com etc, TPB are going to jail, now gambling is illegal on the internet.

Do people have any rights anymore?

Does anyone remember what governments were created for to begin with? Wasn't it to serve the people?

Seems they're more interested in lining their own pockets and screwing people these days, doesn't it?

...and they wonder why wars happen.

Anyone know why the US is in Afghanistan again? Oh, that's right, the war on terror... or was it the fact that the country has more oil than Iraq and Kuwait combined? I forget.

Looks like another Vietnam to me. People getting invaded simply to try and screw them. When is the US going to get their noses out of other people's businesses and concentrate on their own smelly backyard?

300 million degenerates that feel they have the right to dictate to others how things should be run.

Weren't the USA first fighting Japan, then Korea, then Vietnam, Libya, Beruit, Iraq and now Afghanistan. What's the common country here involved in warmongering? Oh, look the USA and their peace-loving ways...

Gotta wonder why the USA feel they have the right to dictate to others when they can't run their own show don't you think.

How is the USA any different to Nazi Germany? It kills millions of people per year in its pursuit of "freedom" and "the greater good", takes resources when it sees fit, controls the media and now the internet and is now policing the internet and telling people they can't have specific sites because they're in violation of their policies.

 

[MrTomTom]

300 million degenerates that feel they have the right to dictate to others how things should be run.

Except there's 1% of these 300 million "degenerates" controlling most ressources and money as well as the 500ish congress people etching laws dictated by the great US corporation's lobbymen.

In the end, there isn't much 300 million degenerates can do to stop this ****. They can't just unvote congressmen, they can't lobby more than the corporations do. They can't get through this system because it's rigged out to work for the benefit of the wealthy hence the many laws that serve those US corporations interests.

 

[Guest]

as far as the comment above that said something to the effect of "it doesn't affect me", i would beg to differ. it doesn't affect you now, but who's to say something you like isn't going to be the next target? that's what everyone misses in these types of discussions, when they get away with stopping one thing, they start with something everyone agrees with and then they move on from there. say, for example, child porn. not a soul i can think of can say honestly that it's ok, including myself. i love thinking someone is protecting my kids, but at the same time, it's my job, not the government's. same concept with anti pirating laws like sopa. most would agree that it should be wrong to pirate movies and music, but what happened to the concept of sharing? if i want to let someone borrow a cd i bought, i can, for now. when would that become illegal? i got most of my music collection in person with a bunch of cd's and a laptop, i even had a friend give me 1.5 terabytes of music when i copied his entire collection onto an external hard drive. when the government gets away with one thing, they feel emboldened to go after the next, and as mentioned above, it's not the people, it's the lobbyists who really control the policy here and it's high time for a change. jefferson said it's not a right but a responsibility for citizens to overthrow the government when it tramples our rights(not exact wording).
high time for a new revolution if you ask me...

 

[Guest]

goodbye americans...


Internet was a good thing to you untill this.

 

[MrTomTom]

"high time for a new revolution if you ask me..."

What he said.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I'm completely shocked by the comments here. Another Vietnam? What?!

This is BODOG.COM COM COM COM COM COM

Not Bodog.CA <--- Canadian! www.Bodog.ca! Not restrictied. The USA has not stepped on a canadian website at all. Lee, Do you homework. Readers, get your head out of your backsides.

 

[Ranger1st]

Terribly sorry, but it needs to be pointed out, US laws are NOT international laws. The .com was registered in Canada not the US, there is NO legal waiver stating that you MUST abide by US laws when you buy a .com, therefore the country of your original purchase is where the laws for online business apply. This is 1st. year law kids.

America has put themselves in the same boat as China and Iran when it comes to controlling what the US populations can and cannot do/view or interact with. But instead of being dogma or politically driven, it's corporate and Christian right wing controlled. The US is in for a very bad time in the up coming years.

 

[jester376]

MilwaukeeMike said:
I'm completely shocked by the comments here. Another Vietnam? What?!

This is BODOG.COM COM COM COM COM COM

Not Bodog.CA <--- Canadian! www.Bodog.ca! Not restrictied. The USA has not stepped on a canadian website at all. Lee, Do you homework. Readers, get your head out of your backsides.

"Interestingly, bodog.com is run by Canadian billionaire Calvin Ayre and the domain was purchased through a Canadian registrar."

Read the damn article.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Ranger1st said:
Terribly sorry, but it needs to be pointed out, US laws are NOT international laws. The .com was registered in Canada not the US, there is NO legal waiver stating that you MUST abide by US laws when you buy a .com, therefore the country of your original purchase is where the laws for online business apply. This is 1st. year law kids.

America has put themselves in the same boat as China and Iran when it comes to controlling what the US populations can and cannot do/view or interact with. But instead of being dogma or politically driven, it's corporate and Christian right wing controlled. The US is in for a very bad time in the up coming years.

There is no legal waiver because 'I didn't know that was against the law' is not a legal defense. If sports gambling is illegal in Maryland, then it's illegal in Maryland. It's not ok just because the website people are using is registered with a different country. This guy is facing 20+ years for running an illegal gambling operation and money laundering. This is not a case of some innocent guy getting his website turned off by the big bad USA govt. He's blaming a 'right wing conspiracy' and you guys are buying it.

Should a website that provides free downloads of movies be allowed if the .COM name is registered in China?

If that's true, then who's laws to we follow? The ones were we live or the one's where the .COM is registered? And prosecuting someone in America for breaking a law from another country is obviously wrong, so what then?

Don't compare us to China... this isn't even close.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

jester376 said:

"Interestingly, bodog.com is run by Canadian billionaire Calvin Ayre and the domain was purchased through a Canadian registrar."

Read the damn article.

Actually I read some of the other artcles that Google's news search returned. They focused more on complete reporting than inciting riots. Here some quotes...

"Ayre posted a statement on his website Tuesday saying that his company did not take U.S. bets.

"Bodog UK, Bodog Europe and Bodog Asia have never taken bets from the US," the statement said. "The BodogBrand is currently consulting with its legal advisers with a view to having the domain returned."

The statement also said the Bodog domain has not been in use since operations were switched from Bodog.com to Bodog.eu by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group and The BodogBrand.com revoked its licensing agreement with MMGG on Dec. 15.

His defense is that he wasn't allowing gambling in the US. And he's being indicted for money laundering. There are plenty of other online poker sites who seems to have figured out the law. Why are you defending this guy?

 

[Tygerstrike]

What surprises me is everyone jumping on the "America is Evil" bandwagon. Problem is that bandwagon aint got no wheels so the argument goes nowhere. If the BILLIONARE in question is indeed performing a money laundrying service, then its illegal. No amount of complaining is going to change the fact that the gentleman in question was doing the money laundering WELL BEFORE any legal action was taken. How about a few slams against the billionare who caused this legal action to be brought against him? Wheres the acknowledgment that what the gentleman did was illegal. I swear!! Half the guest posters have to be incredibly short sited. You read an article, pull out the points you wanna whine about, then raise your pitchforks and torches and turn into an ***** mob.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Tygerstrike said:
What surprises me is everyone jumping on the "America is Evil" bandwagon. Problem is that bandwagon aint got no wheels so the argument goes nowhere. If the BILLIONARE in question is indeed performing a money laundrying service, then its illegal. No amount of complaining is going to change the fact that the gentleman in question was doing the money laundering WELL BEFORE any legal action was taken. How about a few slams against the billionare who caused this legal action to be brought against him? Wheres the acknowledgment that what the gentleman did was illegal. I swear!! Half the guest posters have to be incredibly short sited. You read an article, pull out the points you wanna whine about, then raise your pitchforks and torches and turn into an ***** mob.

This is so true it's scary. It's most likely how the occupy protesters get half their numbers. It started because the tinderbox term 'SOPA' was in the headline which makes everyone automatically against whatever they're about to read. Bloggers site stuff like this when they write that the internet is actually making us dumber.

Nevermind the P in SOPA is for Piracy, and this story has nothing to do with Piracy. It's just easy to relate because it's about the govt shutting down a website. And we have a corporate billionare calling the acts of a democratic administration a 'right wing conspiracy'.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good piece of propoganda, right Techspot?

 

[Tygerstrike]

Whats more scary is the fact that ppl seem to want to play the "Im a victim" Theres no more personal accountability. What the guy did was wrong. Its action/reaction. Im sure the bloggers are right. Ppl are getting stupid. Actually dumber is more appropriate. How any of this affects any of them is a mystery. Oh your rights might be violated by the big bad govt. No "your" individual rights seem to be just fine. Unless your Illegaly laundering money or running an offshore gambling operation. You dont have to worry about much. I swear they see a lizard and scream godzilla.....