
Antigua gets OK to become copyright haven - iProject
http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Antigua-gets-OK-to-become-copyright-haven-4228808.php
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rdl
From experience setting something like this up 13 years ago, probably the most
successful way for Antigua to do this would be to contract out to a commercial
company (incorporated in Antigua, and with no US principals or assets; ideally
as Antiguan as possible), for a set fee of $21mm/yr, and to keep warrants or
other potential upside (say, profit sharing in years 5+ of a 10+ year
contract?)

That way the company can make arbitrary amounts of money, with some value
eventually accruing to Antigua, while remaining within the WTO definition.

The company could choose to value its earnings pretty much arbitrarily (either
really high, based on retail price times number of downloads; or really low,
based on bulk data transfer prices).

The big issue would be keeping international connectivity up -- while the WTO
allows Antigua to do this, IIRC most of Antigua's Internet access is on a
couple of cable systems owned by non-Antiguan companies (mainly C&W plc); the
US could make life crappy for those companies. There are some international
law issues with cutting off all communications and with the contracts for
service on these cables otherwise, though, but it could be messy.

Ultimately it would be cheaper for the US to just give Antigua an extra
$21mm/yr in foreign aid in exchange for them waiving their rights under this
judgment. This could be buried in some kind of educational or bilateral trade
agreement or something.

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Nursie
Ultimately it might be cheaper for everyone involved if the US just complied
with the free and fair trade rules that it likes to impose on other nations,
but hey, can't have everything.

~~~
rdl
There would be more losses to big casino companies (headed by healthy
political donors) than $21mm/yr, if they opened up online gaming.

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JumpCrisscross
Sensationalist title.

" _Antiguan officials say they_ could _make up the money through the operation
of a copyright haven, although what that might look like and what its scope
would be remains unclear. Antiguan officials have kept details vague and the
move has_ little precedent."

While the U.S. is is a negligible export destination for Antigua ($9.1 million
in 2012 [1], or 0.8% of Antigua & Barbuda's GDP), it is a significant source
of imports (17% of GDP). This could produce the seed for regulatory
innovation. But concluding anything yet is extremely premature.

[1] <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2484.html>

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chime
In an indirect but personal way, I'm seriously worried about this. My name is
Chirag and for well over a decade now, I've shared my life, photos, projects,
and art on <http://chir.ag>

I know .ly domains became a concern because of political turmoil in Libya. Is
there anything I can do to keep my site (10k+ visitors/day) accessible if US
decides to block all .ag domains? I haven't come across any famous .ag domains
unlike bit.ly for .ly. Is there a chance my site could be blocked because of
the domain name? I have nightly backups of all the data but the site has
become so integral to my life (in addition to my email address), that I would
be heartbroken if I have to give it up.

~~~
vsync
Wow, small world! Didn't I meet you before sometime? Maybe at a Fark party in
Florida?

~~~
chime
Yup. I remember you. Was it racetrack or HoJos?

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maerek
Sounds like Antigua is threatening the nuclear option over online gambling.
I'm not clear what sort of jurisdiction (or influence) the US should have
regarding gambling by American citizens in other countries, but it seems the
simplest solution would simply be to legalize it in the US.

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FreeKill
As a non-American, I've always wondered why online gambling is banned in the
US. Is it simply because the casinos and other non-online sources were able to
lobby to make it that way?

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jlgreco
As far as I can tell, yes. This seems particularly clear in cases where states
that have otherwise banned gambling run their own lotteries.

~~~
tedunangst
I think a lot of people don't consider the lottery gambling. Gambling is like
a lot of vices. People want to do it, but they don't want other people doing
it near their homes. Vegas and Indian casinos appear to be the nimby
equilibrium point.

~~~
tolmasky
The hilarious part is that if the reasoning really is that one doesn't want to
see it being done near their home, then online gambling is ideal. People would
do it "in the privacy of their own homes", and I think you'd quickly find
people preferring it to going to a building (due to ease and sheer variety).
The brick and mortar places "attract riff raff" precisely because they are by
definition concentrations of theoretically socially unacceptable behavior,
which are then additionally usually combined with alcohol sale.

~~~
tedunangst
Yeah, I don't really know where online gambling fits in. Though some people
probably like that gambling is inconvenient because they have poor impulse
control. "I want you to stop me from doing this thing I'm gonna want to do
later before I regret it."

~~~
semanticist
To get a gaming licence for an online gambling game in the UK, you need to
provide a mechanism to allow players to block themselves from playing.

It's not hard to make that kind of requirement, if it were the real reason
online gambling is restricted.

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kevin_rubyhouse
Would it be beneficial to legalize online gambling in the United States?

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MBlume
Massively, yes. We could start seriously betting on real-world events. It
becomes harder to make crappy predictions ("If this bill isn't passed, crime
will skyrocket!") when people can just check the going odds.

ETA: Much better explanation: <http://squid314.livejournal.com/352406.html>

~~~
whatusername
Interesting.

Does something like that exist in other countries?

We've got this in Australia: <http://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/current-
affairs> But it's no-where near the level that article describes.

~~~
semanticist
I worked next to the guys from Smarkets (<https://smarkets.com>) for a while.
It looks like they're focussing heavily on sports betting now, but they'll do
politics or media things when there's interest.

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stale
Reminds me of Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling

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squozzer
Antigua is obviously a haven for terrorists and trafficking in WMDs. US
invasion imminent.

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ratonofx
it's the biggest honey pot that i ever seen!

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Evbn
What happens 5 minutes after this haven opens, and the $26 million in damages
is compensation and then some?

