IMEGA Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota
The Interactive Media and Gaming association (iMEGA) has filed a lawsuit against the leading official over the State of Minnesota’s latest attempt to block access to over 200 online gambling domains.
Last week, Department of Public Safety’s Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division (AGED) in Minnesota started proceedings to block some 200 (and set to rise) online gaming and gambling sites, with poker sites being top of the list. Yesterday the iMEGA started its defence by filing a law suit against the leading protagonist in the saga.
The lawsuit names John Willems, head of the DPSAGED. It was Mr. Willems who was responsible for issuing the order to 11 ISP’s demanding blockage to the list of websites the state deemed in violation of the law. The suit, seeking an injunction to block implementation of the AGED order, includes several counts, including:
- That AGED and Willems cited a federal statute in the order that did not provide the needed authority to order the ISPs to block the sites;
- That the order is a violation of free speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment to the US Constitution;
- That the order also violates the US Commerce Clause, which is designed to prevent undue restriction of trade across state lines. In addition to the constitutionality and authority questions, the suit also notes that blocking access to Minnesota residents could also impede service to non-Minnesotans, due to the routing intricacies of the Internet itself.
In a press release accompanying the action, iMEGA Chairman Joe Brennan, Jr. said that, “It’s our hope that Minnesota will recognize their error and drop their blocking order. Censoring Internet access for Minnesota residents would establish a troubling precedent of government intrusion into the online world, and we just can’t allow that to happen.”
In the latest confrontation the pro online gambling initiative separately issued a letter to the eleven ISPs, requesting that they not comply with the Minnesota order. In that letter, iMEGA asserted that “the MN DPS is attempting to mislead (either intentionally or inadvertently) you into believing that you are bound to do what the MN DPS asks. [The federal statute cited] simply does not apply to website operators and imposes no duty upon you and provides no authority with you to comply.”
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