British Ban Off-Shore Gambling Ads, Take Step Toward Technological Isolation
Thursday, August 9th, 2007The Guardian Unlimited reported today that the British government is banning nearly a thousand off-shore gambling companies from advertising on UK websites. This standard is meant to increase the legal responsibility of online companies in England while keeping out gambling companies from countries with lower legal thresholds for gaming. There are a few exceptions on what the Guardian refers to as the “white list� but I see this as a step backward for the United Kingdom.
I have written on similar topics in the United States in the past particularly the effort to blame MySpace and other social networking sites for new social ills. The British government is trying to sanitize the Internet which includes millions of websites that help people fulfill their fantasies. I find it particularly egregious that the government will penalize or imprison companies that take advertising dollars from off-shore gambling companies.
This effort to eliminate off-shore gambling in the United Kingdom will lead nowhere. People will still find avenues for gambling as well as meet their other vices online. Advertising companies will lose money due to legislation that will make gambling more attractive instead of making it socially unacceptable. The legalistic reasoning behind this move thinly veils a moralistic tone that is gripping the United Kingdom in a similar way that it has gripped the United States. The British should stop blaming online media and work on other issues of greater importance.
