Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota Agency
The Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association files a lawsuit against Minnesota agency for the agency’s attempt to prevent online gambling. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) ordered Internet service providers to block web access to nearly 200 online entertainment and gaming domains. The lawsuit names both AGED and its director, John Willems as defendants.
If you happened to miss this, here is a list of the citings they included:
The order infringes on the U.S. Commerce Clause, which was originated to prevent undue intrastate trade restrictions.
A federal statute cited in the order does not provide the authority needed to block Internet access to the sites.
The order violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which grants us the right to free speech.
Unfortunately, there were other issues as well. The main concern was for those who did not live in Minnesota, but had the same Internet Service Providers. These individuals would also be denied gaming access to the same sites.
The mission of iMEGA is to foster cooperation between the online gaming and entertainment industry and the government. It promotes creative and the open use of the Internet to all users. iMEGA is also well known as activist in the fight to protect the rights of the gaming community. They are also recognized as heading legal battles in Kentucky and at a federal level, stating that censorship of Internet access establishes a dangerous precedent that would allow government intrusion into the online world.
Willems was put down by Pat Garofalo, the Minnesota state representative. He believes that this would be similar to the dictations of China as opposed to the freedom the USA has been known for all along. While everyone expected Willems to stay quite, he fired back stating that online gaming goes against the laws already that are already in place. He went even further to say that it hinders any law enforcement efforts to reduce illegal gambling online.
As a follow up measure, iMEGA also sent out letters to the ISPs involved informing them that the Minnesota order does not obligate them block Internet access to the online gaming websites. Among those ISPs contacted were AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Now the online gaming community can only wait and see what long-term effect this newest development will have on the freedom developers and players.
