From: Steve Schear <azur@netcom.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 04:38:49 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Minnesota wins ruling.. in LV website lawsuit
Message-ID: <v03102802b03cb1a419a0@[10.0.2.15]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Minnesota wins ruling in LV gaming website lawsuit

Assoc Press

ST. PAUL, Minn.-Minnesota has the right to regulate Internet activity, the
state Court of Appeals ruled in a widely watched l case involving a L as
Vegas company's gambling site on the World Wide Web.

The site's operator said Monday he would appeal.

"For Minnesota to have jurisdiction over a site that has never taken a bet,
that requires someone from Minnesota to go look at it, is ludicrous," said
Kerry Rogers, president of Las Vegas-based Granite Gate Resorts Inc.

The case stems from a push by ~Attorney General Hubert HumPhrey IlI to
block Rogers' gambring operation from soliciting business~ from Minnesota
residents on the Internet.

The court's opinion, filed Friday, said Granite Gate demonstrated a clear
intent to solicit business with Minnesota residents, including one
successful solicitation.

Rogers claimed a lack of jurisdiction because he had not mailed anything or
advertised in Minnesota. "We've never taken a single bet in the history of
the deal," Rogers said. "It was an idea. I'm being sued for an idea."

The decision upholds a district judge's refusal to dismiss the case filed
in 1995. The attorney general's office accused Rogers of false advertising,
deceptive trade practices and consumer fraud.

Now, Humphrey said he would seek a court order to stop the advertising and
seek civil penalties of at least $25,000.

Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who specializes in constitutional,
copyright and computer technology cases, said the decision is "a barrier to
interstate commerce." "This is a very significant case because when you put
up a web site in Nevada, you are essentially doing business in every one of
the 50 states."

He said the debate is over how to characterize the business: Does the
transaction occur in the state of the site's origin, the state where the
user is, or in cyberspace?

--end

PGP mail preferred, see  	http://www.pgp.com and
				http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html
RSA PGP Fingerprint: FE 90 1A 95 9D EA 8D 61  81 2E CC A9 A4 4A FB A9
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Schear (N7ZEZ)     | Internet: azur@netcom.com
7075 West Gowan Road     | Voice: 1-702-658-2654
Suite 2148               | Fax: 1-702-658-2673
Las Vegas, NV 89129      | economic and crypto dissident
---------------------------------------------------------------------

	The push by western governments for financial transparency and
	banning unrestricted use of cryptography is blatent politicial
	tyranny.

	Free Cypherpunk Political Prisoner Jim Bell