Georgia Governor signs internet café bill, regulating online gambling

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed an internet café bill intended to regulate online gambling, but legal internet marketing professionals are concerned over measures that could possibly censor the internet and affect their ability offer promotional prizes.

Senate Bill 431 regulates internet cafés by forbidding online activities and “promotion involving an element of chance which involves the playing of a game on a computer, mechanical device or, or electronic device at a place of business in this state.”

The language of the bill is ambiguous, just as other bills that regulate internet activities like CISPA and the now-defeated SOPA. Though the bill is intended to stop online gambling, brands and legal internet marketing experts believe the bill could affect their ability to promote their products or services. Many companies allow people to enter sweepstakes and offer prizes in the effort to attract consumers.

Everyday people use the internet to gather information, play games, check social media sites among the many other things a person can do on the web. Legal online marketing companies and people with other online jobs depend on a free internet to do their job, and censorship could have an adverse effect on their businesses.

When internet censorship bills are passed with unclear language there are chances that abuses can occur. When the internet is free of censorship and regulation, businesses and users benefit, since there are laws already in place to protect intellectual property from plagiarism