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FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

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31–40 of 402 posts

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#31
post #7

Reagan is the one who signed "asset forfeiture" into law. I remember at the time reading newspaper articles claiming this was "just going to be used to keep drugs off the streets" and how "law enforcement are outgunned and now can defend themselves against drug dealers". It was obvious to me then that this was a violation of due process. Also, it is not authorized by the constitution, and thus every act of seizure un…

Constitutional law is so much more complicated than, "this is what the document says". What is happening is here is reprehensible, but I don't think you will find any defense against it in due process.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#33
when this happened a while back for wikipedia and filesharing sites i wrote a script that lets you add, update, dump, and share entries in your local hosts file (you can even put the text on a website and pull it from a url). it's not really much use since the sites will be moving anyway if no-one else can contact them, but in case someone finds it useful - https://github.com/ghettonet/GhettoNet

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#34
post #29
post #5

WHOA, that's really big news for the poker industry. These are all very large, very big businesses (talking billions of dollars) in the US. Can anyone confirm if their poker clients are still functioning properly?

Weren't they all banned in the US a few years ago? Illegal even for banks to process transactions to them.

Not technically. Technically, they were not allowed to process PAYMENTS in the US, so most of the poker site operators moved their payment processing internationally. If you made a deposit or a withdrawal to one of these services, you would be charged an international transaction fee. It's a gray legal area for sure, but one which they've operated in for many years without much trouble.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#35
post #7

Reagan is the one who signed "asset forfeiture" into law. I remember at the time reading newspaper articles claiming this was "just going to be used to keep drugs off the streets" and how "law enforcement are outgunned and now can defend themselves against drug dealers". It was obvious to me then that this was a violation of due process. Also, it is not authorized by the constitution, and thus every act of seizure un…

While I find this ridiculous, it's quite different from the Liberty Dollar case which you mentioned losing $20 in. In the US it is clearly illegal to begin running your own currency and has been for a long time. The fact that NotHaus went as far as putting the word Dollar on it was just the icing on the cake.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#36
It's real and it's happening now.

I have nothing to do with online gambling (anymore), but this just sent shivers down my spine. Who's next?

The US Government has just strengthened the case of those who were concerned about having parts of Internet infrastructure under the control of the US government.

Domain seizures have been happening for a while (i.e. [1]), but this case will probably be the highest profile to date and will hopefully raise public awareness about this disturbing issue.

I won't be surprised to see US based domain registrars to start loosing a lot of their business quite soon.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/us/04bar.html

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#37
Has a bureau of the US federal government just claimed ultimate authority over the internet's domain name system?

If this is the case, then obviously we have a very serious problem on our hands. This threatens the way the internet works at the infrastructure level. Clearly the US needs to be stripped of their root DNS server privileges.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#38

US government has been gunning for poker sites for a while (since 2006 when the UIGEA passed). Some places like Party Poker withdrew from the US market, while others flourished by skirting the rules to the best of their abilities (e.g. can't have ads for internet gambling on TV, so let's make a play money site fulltilt.net that will eventually funnel traffic to our real cash games). I am however surprised that they'r…

There was so much hope that poker would be granted legal status about a year ago, but congress does tend to get sidetracked.

Nice to see other 2+2ers on HN.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#39
post #10
post #4

http://www.whatsmydns.net/#A/fulltiltpoker.com Shows the propagation is underway.

Beautiful: WARNING I'm surprised they don't have text and audio for ADA compliance.

for a site the don't want anyone to see? ;)

But perhaps you're right and the FBI can be sued for non-compliance.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#40
This is actually perfect. Filesharing sites don't register on the average user radar.

Online gambling sites? Joe Schmoe's everywhere are about to get seriously angry.

It's sad it came to this but maybe it takes something as overreaching as this to get the attention of people.

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