Following Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s seizing of 141 internet gambling domain names in the United States, it looks as though Australia may be planning to do the same. According to an article featured in ‘The Age’, Family First Senator, Steve Fielding, is in favour of blocking ‘hardcore pornography and fetish material’ by ISP and claims that Senator Xenophon would ‘look to use [the ban] to block Australians from accessing overseas online casinos, which are illegal to run in Australia.’
Senator Nick Minchin told The Age, ‘That’s the problem with having this sort of highly centralized government-mandated nationwide filtering system.

The argy-bargy that would result over what is in and what is out strikes me as being almost impossible to manage and it would be a cat chasing its tail.’
The debate in Australia is similar to that which occurred in the United States, where Governor Steve Beshear issued an order to seize 141 of the world’s largest internet domain names including, AbsolutePoker.com, PokerStars.com, UltimateBet.com and FullTiltPoker.com rakeback. Censorship arguments have been raised, backing the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) and Interactive Media and Entertainment Gaming Association (iMEGA).

The question ‘The Age’ asks is whether government filtering systems will be able to block content effectively and quickly. The United States were able to block them by revoking the rights to use those domain names. IGC and iMEGA petitioned that the state does not have the jurisdiction and that companies will suffer harm if their domain names no longer operate. On October 16th Judge Thomas Wingate upheld the seizure order, stating the ‘The Internet…is still not above the law.’ iMEGA claimed, ‘What Judge Wingate has done is to create the ‘ultimate weapon’ to be used by the powerful and influential to attack content they oppose. 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?’