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facility that "is being used or will be used for the pur-

pose of transmitting or receiving gambling information" in

violation of law.44   As discussed in the next section, the

architecture of the Internet renders this provision utterly

impractical.  Even if it were enforceable, the Goodlatte-

LoBiondo bill would make Internet communications less eco-

nomical, less efficient, and less secure.

The Inevitable Failure of Prohibition

Several factors will frustrate attempts to prohibit

Internet gambling.  This section discusses three of them:

· First, Internet technology renders prohibition

futile.  The Internet's inherently open architecture

already hobbles law enforcement officials, and relent-

less technological innovation ensures that they will

only fall further and further behind.

· Second, as an international network, the Internet

offers an instant detour around merely domestic prohi-

bitions.  Principles of national sovereignty will pre-

vent the United States from forcing other countries

to ban Internet gambling, and it takes only one safe

harbor abroad to ensure that U.S. citizens can gamble

over the Internet.

· Third, consumer demand for Internet gambling and

the states' demand for tax revenue will create enor-

mous political pressure for legalization.  The law

enforcement community, which has until recently

enjoyed the media spotlight, will quickly find its

calls for prohibition drowned out by those and other

political forces.

Internet Technology Renders Prohibition Futile

The very architecture of the Internet renders gambling

prohibition futile.  Even the Department of Justice admits

that traditional attacks on interstate gambling "may not

be technically feasible or appropriate with regard to

Internet transmissions."45   In contrast to telephone commu-

nications, which typically travel over circuit-switched

networks, Internet communications use packet switching.46

Each Internet message gets broken into discrete packets,

which travel over various and unpredictable routes until

received and reassembled at the message's destination.  In

other words, sending a message over the Internet is a bit

like writing a letter, chopping it up, and mailing each