Antigua Takes on the USA

Moreover, they might just win, in a world of internet blocks, copyright, free trade, and the USA putting its foot down all over the planet in regards to what is and what is not free trade, Antigua has some interesting things going on, and they are being backed by the WTO.

What makes this interesting is that on line gambling is a market that makes money, take a group of people who are traditionally impoverished, like American Indians, give them a casino, and suddenly they have enough money to do good things for their group. Take a small island in the middle of the Caribbean and add on line gambling, and you get pretty much so the same thing. Lots of money coming in, and many things to do with that money. If you are a government, this is one way to offset a lack of anything else that can be sold on the free market.

This process is deeply embedded into what can be done with the internet, and how the internet can help countries make money, if you have nothing else, getting some high-speed lines into the country and setting up a data center has multiple benefits. Ask Pitcairn Island if that works, they will tell you that it does.

Antigua argued that the US’s ban on online gambling violated the free trade agreement the two countries had signed — as it blocked online gambling sites based in Antigua (of which there are a bunch). Since then, the case has been fun to watch if only for how the US has responded to it. The WTO ruled in favor of Antigua at which point the US basically ignored the WTO, despite the WTO occasionally making angry noises. Then, there was the time that the US went so far as to declare that the WTO had reversed that original ruling on appeal… but the details showed that the US was making up that claim and the WTO was still supporting Antigua. Earlier this year, after the WTO started stomping its feet again, the US responded by saying it was simply (unilaterally) going to change its free trade agreement with Antigua, so that online gambling wasn’t included. Obviously, Antigua finds that solution quite troublesome. Source: Techdirt

While the USA does not need any more damage to its international reputation, the idea that free trade is free trade, and that by blocking a countries web sites is against the WTO agreements signed, could have far-reaching implications. The USA bans or blocks gambling sites worldwide, if and it looks like Antigua will win the battle over access to gambling web sites, other countries can step in and do the same thing, they will have backing of the WTO as the rule is rewritten.

While America just ignores the WTO treaty, it is then no surprise that other countries like Brazil, China, Russia and India are also ignoring the WTO treaty, as well as copyright rules and restrictions. If Antigua becomes a hosting area for bittorrent, shared drives, P2P systems all beyond the reach of enforcement groups like RIAA, MPAA, Brien and others, the pressure that will be pushed on the government will be enormous. Moreover, that might be and probably will be enough to change American policy. What starts as a battle for gambling, ends up influencing free trade, and opening the doors to a safe haven for piracy, meaning companies will start going nuts over that. It is an interesting story, and well worth checking out the Techdirt article on it.