Everyone to Antigua? if...

[plato]

Borrowed from another poster:

The governments of Antigua and the United States are awaiting an important decision by the WTO which will be announced any day now. The WTO is going to determine if the United States has complied with an appellate body ruling that required the United States to either open its market to all gambling operations from Antigua or else totally stop remote domestic gambling in the United States.

For those not familiar with the case, the following is a brief synopsis. As most know, over the last decade the United States has done everything in its power to try and stop offshore sportsbooks, casinos and money transfer operations from catering to the U.S. market. Gambling enterprises located in Britain, Australia, Canada (Kahnawake) and much of the Caribbean were given a license to operate from those countries and take bets from anyone in the world, including the United States. While Britain and Australia have done nothing to try and help the companies they licensed in their effort to access the U.S. market, the Caribbean countries, and particularly the island of Antigua, have stepped up to the plate for their licensees to demand the U.S. comply with an agreement both countries made in the WTO under GATS (General Agreement on Trades in Services).

In 2003 the island of Antigua initiated a pre dispute negotiation process with the United States to see if the issue of cross border betting could be resolved amicably. Rather than going through a long, drawn out process, the Antiguan government just wanted the United States to come to a fair settlement that would give Antigua gambling services access to the U.S. market as was provided to them under the agreement which both countries signed. Unfortunately, the United States had no interest in negotiating at all and simply declared that their laws make it illegal for other countries to take bets from Americans and there was nothing to talk about. Consequently, Antigua submitted their dispute to a three judge panel at the WTO to resolve the dispute, and the United States submitted their side. Briefly, Antigua argued that they built a model since the late 1990s to offer remote gambling and banking services to all countries by way of the internet and telephone, but primarily internet to help build the Antiguan economy. They argued that the United States' attempts to bar its citizens from accessing the gambling services in Antigua was contrary to the GATS agreement which both countries signed declaring that all services, including gambling, were open to free trade.

The United States suggested that when the GATS agreement was signed, they assumed that gambling was not included. They claimed internet gambling went against the morals of the United States and made the usual arguments that online remote gambling was a concern as it allowed easy access to minors, organized crime and money laundering and because people were able to bet 24 hours a day it could lead to health risks and compulsive behavior. Antigua pointed out that they had in fact dealt with all of these American concerns and had undertaken various measures to ensure that money laundering, betting by minors and compulsive gambling had been addressed. They also showed the incredible hypocrisy of the United States since the U.S. have all the same issues in their own land based casinos and almost every casino is open 24 hours a day. The panel considered the arguments and determined that the United States was wrong to restrict access to their markets and that gambling services were indeed covered under GATS. The panel then demanded the United States open its markets to the Antiguan operations.

The United States delayed any action and then appealed to a WTO appellate board in January 2005, reinstating its "morals" defense. The appellate body reaffirmed the previous ruling of the WTO, but gave the United States a way out. Essentially they stated that the United States could use this morals defense provided they treat domestic remote gambling the same way they do foreign remote gambling. In better words, if the United States made it illegal for Americans to bet on the internet or telephone on all domestic gambling services they could demand the same thing with regards to foreign gambling operations. That meant that the government essentially had to override the Interstate Horseracing Act and force Americans to bet on horses at the track itself. So all simulcast and offtrack wagering would have to be made illegal. Furthermore, any plans to allow remote wagering on domestic casinos and lotteries would have to be abandoned. Both countries declared victory which had many observers scratching their heads. After all, it was clear the United States had absolutely no intention of denying horsemen previous rights in regards to off track betting, and it was obvious the government would try to obfuscate the issue. The appellate board gave the U.S. government until April 2006 to either stop all domestic remote betting or open up its market to Antigua. The deadline passed, and the U.S. did nothing. In October they shoved through the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIEGA) and then made an announcement that they had complied with the appellate board's decision and had been in compliance all along.


That brings us to the current situation. In the near future the appellate board will make a ruling on whether the U.S. has indeed complied with its demands. It's hard to fathom any way that the appellate board could rule the U.S. is in compliance. Without doubt, the United States will argue the exemption given to horseracing in the UIEGA precludes it from having to abide by the requirements of the appellate board with regards to remote domestic gambling on horseracing. But the UIEGA is clearly irrelevant to the board's decision. The appellate board made it clear that you can't have two sets of laws - one for domestic services and one for the exact same foreign service and then argue that the foreign service isn't legal because it's immoral. Furthermore, the passing of the UIEGA may be seen by the WTO as a poke at the organization. Thus it is almost certain that the WTO will rule that the United States has not complied with its decision, and the U.S. will then be allowed one last appeal which would be decided on by late spring. At that point, considering the United States has still not adhered to the findings of the appellate body and the WTO finds it is still not in compliance, Antigua will have to determine how to proceed from there, including sanctions and other avenues given to it by WTO treaties. George Bush has indicated that he would like to start abiding by WTO decisions, but that is left to be seen.

While this case is clearly about the ability of a small country to affirm its free rights and build its own industry, there is actually a much larger issue at stake. When the case was brought forward by Antigua to the WTO, Canada, the European Communities, Japan, Mexico and Chinese Taipei reserved their rights to participate in the panel proceedings as third parties. The reason is clear. All those countries at some point or another have used the WTO to help resolve trade disputes or at least plan to use the WTO dispute mechanism, and this case is essential in determining how effective the WTO really is. The WTO was formed with the help of the United States to ensure that all countries are treated fairly in the trading of services. All governments wanted to ensure that a policy of "might makes right" was never used to force demands by larger countries on smaller ones and that all countries, regardless of size, operated on a level playing field. Now that the United States is the country that clearly is the aggressor against the tiny island of Antigua with a population of only 68,000 people, it is to be determined if the Americans are prepared to abandon the institutions and organizations it helped build by introducing its position as the last world superpower.

Is the United States determined to exercise its power to secure special favours from the WTO and other organizations, which clearly is contrary to the reasons the organizations were set up in the first place? This is not the first time the Americans have dragged their feet with regard to trade disagreements. In a trade disagreement with Canada over softwood lumber, for example, the Americans continued to deny numerous findings against them by the WTO which ordered that the Americans give back duties that the country put on lumber entering the United States from Canada. That issue was resolved this year, but only after the United States was given concessions. Whether the U.S. was right or wrong in that case, or indeed in this case, is not relevant. The WTO was set up as an arbitrary means to settle disputes and all countries in the WTO, including the United States, agreed to abide by the dispute settlement process outlined. How can anyone possibly deal with a country that insists that other jurisdictions immediately abide by decisions when it benefits them, but delays and makes every attempt to transcend the findings when the rulings go against them?

The WTO dispute resolution mechanism is not, and never was, intended to be a one way street. Furthermore, this argument that the United States did not realize that gambling was included in the GATS when they signed it is not relevant. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, and clearly a country which seems to have more lawyers per square foot than trees could have read the agreement and brought up any objections before they signed on the dotted line. If they are allowed to get away with this, then who will they bully next into giving up their rightful claims under the WTO?

The gambling industry is crucial to Antigua who built a model around it, and the goverment of Antigua seems determined to carry out what they believe are their rights as an independent country. This is not just about an industry, this is about the lives of thousands of people, and also about principal. The jobs from sportsbooks and casinos pay well and provide a good living to Antiguan citizens. If the Antiguan government gives in now it could set a dangerous precedent, which would essentially uncover the WTO dispute mechanism as a sham. At some point the United States must realize it is not the center of the universe and they can't dictate to other countries how to operate. Both the U.S. government and the Antiguan government signed an agreement, and both should stick to it. Rather than dilly dallying in an effort to get their way, Uncle Sam should simply abide by the decision. So in the near future we should either find out that the U.S. has closed up every single off track betting parlor and all remote domestic gambling operations or have admitted this isn't feasible and instead opened the Antiguan gambling industry to America. It's unlikely the U.S. will do either, but if they truly believe in the democratic process they should.

 

[plato]

Another good post:

Antigua Threatens War on US
While I often criticize our government, I feel both proud and happy to live and be a citizen of the United States. I find many other countries interesting, enjoy visiting them, taking in the culture and cuisine, meeting lots of people and don’t have any feelings of superiority just due to the national identity on my passport. I understand why people of many other nations have pride and patriotism in their countries and why most people on the planet like living in their home nation and, in spite of what we often tell ourselves, don’t want to move here.

I have never liked many of the trade treaties like GATT, NAFTA, CAFTA nor the enforcement bodies like the WTO. I believe in fair trade and grow sad when I hear that even iconic American products like a good old pair of canvas, high top Chuck’s are manufactured outside our borders. The ecological nightmare that is NAFTA also bothers me, because of decisions made by the governing body, Mexican farmers can use DDT as if “American” birds never fly across the border and Argentine fishing vessels can kill sea turtles and, in spite of US laws protecting the ancient animals, our national sovereignty is overridden and we cannot refuse to buy fish from people who kill animals our laws try to protect.

I do, however, have a strong sense of fair play and, while I may not agree with decisions made by the WTO, I feel strongly that the United States, in spite of our enormous wealth and power, must accept the rule of law and abide by the rules set forth in treaties that our government ratifies. If the US elects to ignore a specific treaty or portion thereof, it should withdraw from the body entirely. While America has the power and money, it should at least follow the rules it has promised to obey.

Thus, I bring to the attention of Blind Confidential readers an obscure recent ruling by the WTO that may have enormous consequences on intellectual property owned by Americans and US based companies. This, like so many true stories, feels more like a comic novel than actual news but you can look it up.

I first heard the story on NPR’s All Things Considered in a piece called, “WTO Ruling on Antigua-Based Web Gambling Sites.” After hearing the story, I did some more research into the decision and found that many articles turned up in a google search. One of particular interest came in CNET’s article, “Antigua blasts U.S. Net gambling laws.”

When it comes to laws and regulation regarding moral and personal behavior issues, I fall into the libertarian camp. I don’t care who you sleep with, what bets you place, what drugs you use, if you pay for sex, read dirty magazines or perform unspeakable acts with barnyard animals. I believe your right to swing your fists end where my nose begins or, to make a more specific statement, if your actions do not harm others (especially children) I don’t want to know about them nor do I care for anyone else to know about or, even more so, regulate my actions. I do believe strongly that active drug addicted and alcoholic parents should have their kids taken away, I believe people who perform sexual acts or even try to perform sexual acts with children or with a non-consenting adult, should go to jail for a really long time. I believe bookmakers who break legs or kill people over unpaid debts should go to jail, the same for violent drug dealers, intoxicated drivers and airline pilots. I can’t say that I care if an athlete throws a game as sports aren’t really that important and, in my mind, fall into entertainment and, like the WWF, shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Thus, you’ve now heard my opinion on such laws and regulations and we can return to our regular scheduled story.

“"We believe the time has come for the United States to demonstrate ... whether the WTO agreements are to work for us all equally, or whether the WTO is
indeed a one-way street for the large economies to further enrich themselves at the expense of lesser ones," John Ashe, Antiguan ambassador to the World Trade Organization, told diplomats at a session of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), according to the CNET story.

MSNBC reported, “In a ruling that could open the United States to offshore Internet gambling, a World Trade Organization panel Wednesday said Washington should
drop prohibitions on Americans placing bets in online casinos.”

The NPR story, which you can listen to at the link above, reported that a small time Long Island bookmaker named Jay chose to leave the US to start an online gambling business called the World Sports Exchange and base his business in Antigua. The island nation of 67,000 residents permits online gambling and, along with tourism, the gaming industry forms an important part of its economy.

Jay, not realizing that the US would ignore international law, came home to Long Island to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner, 2002, with his family. There, the FBI arrested him for violating the Federal ban on interstate internet gambling. Jay, now a very wealthy, legitimate (everywhere in the world other than the US) bookmaker and vendor of gambling software to other betting web sites, was convicted and sent to the Club Fed, where else, but Las Vegas. Sitting bored in his cell, Jay received a rambling letter from someone who had heard of his case which suggested he petition the Antiguan government to file a complaint with the WTO against the US for violating international trade law.

Jay called his old college roommate, now a lawyer with absolutely no experience in international trade law and the two of them managed to convince little Antigua to take on the Goliath United States in an official trade dispute. Against all odds, the WTO, in a 290 page ruling, took the side of Antigua and Jay. Who is now out on parole and has left the country again to return to his business in the Caribbean.

The United States announced it would appeal the decision, certainly its right as a nation and that it would ignore the ruling no matter the outcome – a right it does not have under the trade treaty.

So, one may wonder, what sling poor little Antigua can use to slay the Goliath US? With only 67,000 people, Antigua could boycott everything the US sells and not a single American business would even notice. If it tried to lace travel restrictions on its citizens from visiting the US, they would only annoy their own business people. What, then could they do to really hit the US in its pocketbook?

According to the NPR report, Antigua plans on officially taking the action that, because the US will not abide by the trade laws that effect the little island nation, it will go after the US where they can do some real damage. Antigua plans on making itself an Internet copyright free zone. Their plan, according to both NPR and a bunch of other sources one can find in a google search, is to allow web sites based in the country to distribute any bit of intellectual property covered by US copyright without paying royalties to US companies, for free or at a charge to the consumer.

Can they get away with this? The answer is maybe. The WTO has been known to ignore trade violations when done in retaliation against countries that have ignored their other rulings.

So, one may think that Britney, Metallica and other pop stars will, like during the Napster boom, lose a few bucks due to slumping record sales as music fans turn to free or very low cost Antiguan downloads. When it comes to software, Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit and the other big players already withstand open piracy in Asia, South America Africa and elsewhere. Anyone with good web searching skills and really good virus protection software can almost always find a free copy of nearly any software product on some Eastern European server and the software companies, in spite of rampant piracy, endure.

Of course, software companies who make millions upon millions of dollars selling their products to corporations in the US, Canada, the EU and Australia and New Zealand who typically don’t flaunt copyright laws or, like Microsoft, Corel, AOL and others, get paid for software that comes pre-installed on new computers before the less copyright minded end users even get hold of their products can withstand a firestorm of Antiguan copyright free copies of their products.

What about the AT companies?

Like any market segment that sells relatively high priced products to a small number of consumers, the AT vendors feel the pain of piracy much more than do their consumer product cousins. Companies who make very high priced vertical market products can get badly hurt by a short term slip in their revenues. Screen reader vendors who find a lot of people downloading cracked copies of their software can literally go bankrupt if a large enough portion of their would be consumers choose to ignore copyright law, forego official technical support and download the products for free or little cost from a tiny nation retaliating against the US government’s refusal to comply with a treaty it did a lot to create.

Many people with vision impairments lament the high prices of AT products and scream about the unfair notion that screen reader vendors live high on the hog of windfall profits. The economics of the industry, however, is quite different than the perception. A company that makes screen readers must pay software engineers, quality assurance engineers, documentation and training specialists, product managers, technical support technicians and all others necessary to build software products at the same rate as their mainstream competitors. While everyone I know who makes screen readers for a living has a lot of pride in their work and a far greater sense of purpose than people who make quantitative equity analysis programs or accounting packages, they also have families, mortgages, car payments and the same living costs as everyone else. AT companies cannot ask their people to work for the warm and fuzzy feeling they get by making software whose users find so important. They can’t ask their employees to try to eat prestige. They are also not charities and, if they don’t make money for their investors, they won’t last very long.

I can already hear some of you arguing that this proves that the current model of making assistive technology products is broken. I can hear the cries of the open source people and of those who believe that screen readers should be built into operating systems. Unfortunately, VoiceOver by Apple isn’t mature enough to support all of the programs blind people need at work. The GNU/Linux gnome based screen readers are hardly more than demos. So, for now, the model we got is the only game in town and if a trade war hurts the screen reader vendors dramatically, any kind of innovation, any kind of progress and any kind of future for many blinks will immediately go on hold.

Please, write to the Commerce Department and suggest that they follow the WTO ruling and stop being so damned arrogant. Just because the US has the money and power does not mean that it can pick and choose the international laws it chooses to follow without suffering consequences. We, as Americans, need to stop the hypocrisy and accept the rule of law. Where’s Bob Barr when you need him?