Extraterritoriality strikes again: PartyGaming will pay $105 million to get the federal government to drop charges that the site permitted offshore online gambling by U.S. residents against the wishes of their government. [Balko, Reason “Hit and Run”]
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My initial musings are to extend a generous but singular “digital” message to DOJ. Next I wonder, if DOJ can reach across the pond and shake down businesses retroactively, what’s to stop them from building a target
hitlist of all kinds of domestic businesses who they don’t like? As though they’re not already doing it now. Lastly, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during theextortionnegotiation meetings to understand the business case made for paying this protection money as opposed to just closing up shop and moving to perhaps Zurich and starting over.Unfreakin real! How about the US starts taxing these websites instead of trying to punish them. They would make a heck of a lot more money that way.