Drew Burden

I voted for Governor Steve Beshear last year.

Not only is this a testament to how good of a job I thought he could do (and I still think he is doing), but the fact he’s in office shows that a lot of Kentuckians thought he was an improvement over his predecessor.

I think Governor Beshear has done a lot of great things in office, some of which were shot down by opposition, but great things nonetheless. I agree with the man on the issue of legalized gambling in Kentucky–we need it to help alleviate our budget shortfalls.

I do believe, however, that he is making a big mistake when it comes to his administration’s endeavor to seize control of 141 domain names belonging to some of the most popular Internet gambling sites out there. Just because someone has something and you can’t get it doesn’t mean you get to steal it. Forbes has an article about Judge Thomas WIngate refusing to drop the case and I can’t help but be worried.

The Internet is a global medium. We pioneered it and got it started here in the United States but it has a worldwide reach. Ergo, I believe that the Internet is international jurisdiction and the Commonwealth of Kentucky has no business messing with it. Domain names and the seizure thereof are on ICANN’s turf since, you know, they control the DNS. I’m hoping ICANN steps in and doesn’t let this happen. If a state government can seize someone’s domain name because they don’t like the site that’s running on it, what’s next? Will the state government next seize my domain name and that of any other blogger, as I suspect there are many, who have written things critical of the Beshear administration because they saw the exact same thing I see coming? If a state government can seize a domain name, and that precedent is established, the federal government may follow suit and perhaps even the Bush administration will start taking domain names of bloggers and other web sites that have been critical of the president and his cohorts. If this case is allowed to continue I fear it will escalate into a matter of First Amendment rights.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I am horrible at ending these things.