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Given the technological constraints, prohibiting

Internet gambling plainly will not work as intended.  As

an unintended side effect, however, prohibition would sore-

ly compromise the cost, efficiency, and security of

Internet communications.  In criticizing recent legislative

proposals to outlaw the consumption of Internet gambling

services, the Department of Justice observed that "this

would likely require the backbone provider to filter mes-

sages by examining the content of traffic flowing across

its network in a way that may have serious economic and

societal consequences for Internet usage generally."49   We

would never accept the cost--in money, time, or privacy--

of authorizing the post office to open every letter in a

futile crusade against gambling.  Internet users will

hardly allow their network to suffer a similar fate.

Given the inevitable failure of technical fixes, legalizing

Internet gambling offers the only viable solution.

Internet Gambling Can Escape Domestic Prohibitions

Outlawing Internet gaming services domestically will

simply push the business overseas.  Federal law enforce-

ment agents admit that they cannot stop overseas gaming

operations.  "International Internet gambling?  We can't

do anything about it," Department of Justice spokesman

John Russell said.  "That's the bottom line."50   Even Kyl

has confessed that "this would be a very difficult kind of

activity to regulate because we don't have jurisdiction

over the people abroad who are doing it."51

Both practical and legal considerations ensure that no

domestic ban on Internet gambling will have an interna-

tional reach.  Because the Internet provides instant

access to overseas sites, to be effective, any domestic

prohibition on gaming services will have to cover the

entire planet.  American law enforcement agents can--and

recently did--arrest local citizens accused of running

Internet gambling businesses,52 but smart operators will

quickly learn to set up abroad and stay there.53

Gaming services can find ample shelter overseas.  A

growing number of countries, including Australia, New

Zealand, Antigua, and Costa Rica, have decided to legalize

and license Internet gaming services.54   Principles of inter-

national law, which protect each country's sovereignty, bar

the United States from extraditing its citizens merely for

violating domestic anti-gambling laws.55   Furthermore, the

Sixth Amendment of the Constitution's Bill of Rights,

because it guarantees criminal defendants the right to con-

front their accusers, prohibits the prosecution of those who