GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 9 - June 2009

GPWA Times | APCW’sWall of Shame T he competition to join the APCW’s Wall of Shame for this issue was fierce. After tacking Christel Schaeldemose, a Euro- pean Parliament member from Denmark, and the Church of England to the wall in the last issue for their extraordinary ef- forts to hinder the growth of online gam- bling in Europe, a virtual flood of con- tenders washed up by the wall for us to choose from. It was tough, but we finally picked two more people to join the Wall of Shame, and believe me -- they really earned their spots. So go ahead, read on. And prepare to be outraged. StephenConroy Senator Stephen Conroy, who happens to be Minister forBroadband, Communications and theDigitalEconomy inAustralia, appears tobe tiltingatwindmills thesedays. The Australian Communications and Media Authority,which fallsunderConroy’spurview, is compiling a “black list” of sites that Austra- lian ISPswould required toblock fromAustra- lians when the government decides to imple- ment itsmandatory Internet filteringpolicy. Now,thiswas“supposed”tobealistthatblocked sites related tochildporn, childabuse, rapeand bestiality. So imaginemy surprisewhen the list was leaked to the public that a good portion of it contained included thehomepagesof private companies, YouTube videos, a tour operator, dating services andmedical practitioners. And at least 13 poker Web sites are also on the list, including Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker. WilliamHillCasino.com and GamblingClub.com are other online gambling propertiesalsoon the list. Now this is just wrong. First of all, it’s clear that the people who put this list together have no idea what they’re doing. If the list hadn’t been leaked, it could have hurt lots of legitimate sites, gambling and non-gambling alike, thatwouldhavehadno idea they’dbeen “blacklisted” because the list is supposed to be a secret. Imean re- ally. How you are sup- posed to fight a secret listing that could ruin your livelihood? Now Conroy claims this is not the actual list. But if that’s true, why did he say “the leak and publication of prohibited URLs is grossly irresponsible.” And why are some sources in media re- portssayingACMAhas read theriotact to ISPs to ensure the listwon’t be leakedagain? This whole thing smells rotten. And that’s why Conroy has found a home on ourWall of shame. JohnKindt Ifdon’t likegambling,thendon’t likegambling.If youwant toopposegamblingonmoral grounds, then oppose gambling on moral grounds. But don’t tell us gambling is going to completelyde- stroy the world as we know it. Then you sound like a complete jackass. And that’s exactly the casewithournext inductee, JohnKindt. Kindt is a professor at theUniversity of Illinois whoreallyhatesgambling.Buthisattackson the online gambling industry are simply preposter- ous. Try some of these statements he’smade in thepresson forsize: “The revenue they would get isminiscule com- pared to thedevastation itwouldbring tofinan- cialsystems,stockmarkets,nationalsecurityand people’s lives.” “Thiswould set us up for somethingworse than the sub-prime mortgage disaster. These com- panies are predicated on speculation, and de- stabilize the financial system and stockmarkets worldwide.” (Phys.og) “Widespread gambling gambles with our na- tional security by dragging down our national economicsecurity.” (Newswire) Jackass. Look, if you think the social costs of online gambling, or gambling in general are too high, say so. But don’t claimonline gambling is goingtoruintheworldeconomy.Thebankshave done a pretty good job of doing that by them- selves.Anddon’t claimgambling isgoing to ruin national security. It’snot. Sostickyourmoralizing.Orbequiet.Andby the way,welcome to theWallof shame. WALL OF SHAME byJ.Todd, ExecutiveDirector,APCW