daveo0331's Journal: Internet gambling legislation leads to... cheap MS software?

As you may know, in October the US passed legislation that tries to limit online gambling (it hasn't proven to be very effective, but that's a different story). The law happens to blatantly violate WTO rules because it differentiates between different forms of online gambling and, in the process, gives preferential treatment to domestic gambling sites over foreign ones. Then again, who cares? It's not like the US cares about international law or what the rest of the world thinks.

This is where it gets interesting. Antigua has complained to the WTO about this. And, the US doesn't have much of a case. The WTO has already ruled in favor of Antigua, and that was before the legislation even passed. Antigua's case is even stronger now. At this point, you may be saying so what, Antigua can't really hurt the US with trade sanctions. But the WTO can do a lot more than just authorize trade sanctions. They can exempt Antigua from their WTO obligations, specifically their obligation to support US intellectual property laws. I wonder what the RIAA would think of cheap-mp3s.ag, 100% legal according to international law? Maybe the corporate lobbyists can get the US to actually respect things like their treaty obligations and international law.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one that submitted this; it's on the front page now.