Will Amnesty International take up cause of David Carruthers?

Amnesty International launches global campaign against internet with David Carruthers and BetonSports rumored to be high on list of concerns

Shares in online gaming company BetOnSports were suspended last Tuesday after its chief executive was detained in the United States and the FBI ordered four telephone companies to cut off its operations.

BetOnSports said it had been unable to contact Chief Executive David Carruthers, who is being held in Fort Worth, Texas, but had seen a U.S. indictment "alleging various criminal acts against multiple defendants."

The detention of Carruthers is a blow to the $12 billion-a-year Internet gambling industry. He had spearheaded a campaign against a Republican-written bill to crack down on online gambling. Despite attempts to prohibit online gambling by certain politicians, poll after poll shows that more than 75% of US citizens are against banning it.

BetOnSports said it was urgently trying to clarify the situation and assess the impact of a temporary restraining order on its business in the United States, its biggest market.

Shares in companies across the sector fell by as much as 19 percent, while some British gaming executives said they were reviewing whether to travel to the United States.



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http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGACT300162006

Embargo Date: 20 July 2006 00:01 GMT

Amnesty International launches global campaign against internet repression

Following the success of the launch of its internet freedom campaign in the UK, Amnesty International is today going global with irrepressible.info. The campaign aims to claim back the web as a force for change in the face of an increasing willingness on the part of technology companies to aid censorship and repression.

From Iran to the Maldives and Cuba to Vietnam, governments are both cracking down on those who use the internet to communicate their views and denying their citizens access to its wealth of information. Web users are locked up, internet cafes are shut down, chat rooms are policed and blogs deleted. Websites are blocked, foreign news banned, and search engines filter out sensitive results.

"The internet can be a great tool for the promotion of human rights -- activists can tell the world about abuses in their country at the click of a mouse. People have unprecendented access to information from the widest range of sources," said Amnesty International.

"But the internet's potential for change is being undermined -- by governments unwilling to tolerate this free media outlet, and by companies willing to help them repress free speech."

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Gambling911.com News Wire

Originally published July 25, 2006 8:30 pm EDT