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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Aug 16th 2005 2:36am





Is It Illegal To Have Gambling Comment Spam In Australia?

from the just-wondering... dept

With the recent GEICO/Google ruling there are plenty of ongoing arguments about who should be responsible for the content of web ads. It's not hard to see how that can become quite the slippery slope. Down in Australia, for example, it appears that the law says that any site that advertises gambling links is breaking the law, if the site is primarily viewed by Australians. The article here focuses on how Google Australia is likely breaking that law, but it still doesn't address the question of why Google should be responsible for these ads when they have an open system for creating the ads. In fact, from the sound of this, an Australian blog that gets gambling comment spam would also be guilty of breaking this law. Shouldn't the responsibility go to the company or individual that's actually doing the advertising or spamming?

5 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    anonymous, Aug 16th, 2005 @ 5:36am

    Aggree

    The fact that google remains to be a great search engine but how can they be held responsible for actions of others when there are thousands of websites being created weekly maybe daily. No one company can filter all that.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Kevin Mesiab, Aug 16th, 2005 @ 9:21am

    Statism

    I think these kinds of rulings are clear indications that there is a huge disconnect between legislative bodies and the rapidly evolving internet paradigm.

    If we're not careful, we will quickly lose the laissez faire notions that built it up, under the thumb of poorly informed, reactionary bodies who we ask to govern us.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Derek Bever, Aug 16th, 2005 @ 10:17am

    Jurisdiction...

    The trouble with enforcing laws on the internet that are specific to a country is that it's impossible for someone to actually have jurisdiction unless the site is hosted in that country.

    So either we make it illegal for australians to view the ads, thus placing the blame on the people, we make it illegal for a website whose traffic is primarily australian to display the ads, placing the blame on the people, or go after those doing the advertising, which is still a little out there considering they don't hand-place the ads.


    Basically, it's a stupid law.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    sia, Aug 16th, 2005 @ 12:38pm

    Re: Jurisdiction...

    "Google's closest competitor in Australia, Yahoo.com.au, displays search results for gambling sites but not advertisements."

    So if Yahoo can do it, why can't other companies?
    Ya, thats what I thought!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    SEO training noida, Dec 2nd, 2011 @ 9:41pm

    seo training

    Thank You

    Your blog is very informative

    visit:

    www.finnjobs.com ,(SEO Training Noida)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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