Florida Accidentally Banned All Computers, Smart Phones In The State Through Internet Cafe Ban

[Galraedia]

Source: Huffington Post

When Florida lawmakers recently voted to ban all Internet cafes, they worded the bill so poorly that they effectively outlawed every computer in the state, according to a recent lawsuit.

In April Florida Governor Rick Scott approved a ban on slot machines and Internet cafes after a charity tied to Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll was shut down on suspicion of being an Internet gambling front -- forcing Carroll, who had consulted with the charity, to resign.

Florida's 1,000 Internet cafes were shut down immediately, including Miami-Dade's Incredible Investments, LLC, a café that provides online services to migrant workers, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The owner, Consuelo Zapata, is now suing the state after her legal team found that the ban was so hastily worded that it can be applied to any computer or device connected to the Internet, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Miami Herald.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/08/florida-banned-computers_n_3561701.html

[frylock]

1. classic!

[Ed Suspicious]

2. Small government republicans. Awesome job shitbags.

[HooptieWagon]

3. I'm sure that really pissed off the NSA! nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Forget the NSA, how about NASA?

[bluedigger]

4. If any of you are reading this in Florida right now, just go turn yourselves in.

There's no point in waiting for them to come get you.

[sigmasix]

16. from my cold, artheritis-wridden hands

So the teabagger governor of my state is attacking the 1st amendment rights of every floridian. What a surprise, given that Scott is the poster-boy for The destruction of American liberties and the collusion of private criminally wealthy groups with state and local Teabagger politicians and their owners. all in efforts to sell-off the remaining common spaces and greenways in America, owned by the people.
I moved from Indiana to Michigan because of the right wing teabagger control of indiana politics, then Michigan acquired an even worse Governor, we moved as soon as he staryed jacking up home owner taxes while slashing taxes for the rich and signing off on abatements for the biggest republican donors from out of state. Now we live in florida due to health reasons, but the ODS is strong among the teabagger rank and file in Florida so we often see the worst of the worst out of the governor's office and his operatives.

[xtraxritical]

32. Florida is bugs, humidity, and Tbaggers, try California and live a little!

[tofuandbeer]

30. :D

[Orrex]

5. For God's sake!

I hope that they included a special exemption to allow continued use of computerized ultrasound equipment for the humiliation of women!

[sakabatou]

6. Teh stupid! It hurts!

[jtuck004]

7. Someone paid a government to ban Internet Cafe's? Smart voters...

[naaman fletcher]

8. What the hell do they have against internet cafes? nt

[Ed Suspicious]

9. I wonder where Time Warner or Comcast or whatever other cable companies out there are based. I'm

betting they had something to do with it.

[jmowreader]

19. "Internet cafe" means something different than you think it does

These Internet cafes are actually casinos. The owners sell people Internet time or phone cards that come with "entries" in Internet sweepstakes; the "entries" are used to gamble at computers owned by the shop.

[naaman fletcher]

20. Wow

I had no idea.

That being said, I don't care and if have just left them alone

[jmowreader]

24. You should care, in this case

Because these things are completely uncontrolled, they're famous for ripping people off even worse than casinos normally do.

And that's the big problem: when one goes to a casino, one has the right to expect the game not to be rigged and to receive any monies one may accidentally win. The Internet cafes don't do that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

37. So why has Florida decided to use a different definition of 'internet cafe' from the rest of us?

Couldn't they have come up with a different phrase?

Thanks for explaining it - it's a shame Huff Post didn't do that as part of their basic journalism.

[jmowreader]

45. It's not just Florida.

These things are popping up in every state that has an insufficient supply of real casinos. In Idaho these are still legal, so far as I know, but no one's tried opening one because they'd go broke. There are three tribal casinos in North Idaho - the Kootenai tribe has one in Bonners Ferry, the Coeur d'Alenes have one in Worley and the Nez Perce have one in Lewiston. There are probably casinos in south Idaho but am not sure. Washington is thick with casinos, and non-Indians can open card rooms there. Montana is a casino state. And Nevada is right on our southern border. It's in the Bible Belt where these cause problems.

[Jerry442]

10. Well, gollleeee!

"You mean we cain't just write a law that says people should stop doing ornery stuff, you all know what we mean? Got to have de-tails?"

[thelordofhell]

11. Florida

[Blue Owl]

12. Floriduh

n/t

[trusty elf]

35. Flordia

[IMG][/IMG]

[Blue Owl]

43. Heh heh -- is that near Portlandia?

[dickthegrouch]

13. Isn't there some statute which forbids the government from taking things without paying for them?

If the government took away my internet cafe, I'd sue for restitution of the value of the property (hint).

[RobertEarl]

14. That means paying your ISP bill is illegal

You could be put in jail for paying your bill. DON"T PAY!

[Pterodactyl]

15. Dumb! Like when NY banned police guns.

Lawmakers should actually READ legislation before voting on it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. It's more like when Texas banned gay marriage but it included ALL marriage,...by accident.

[Pterodactyl]

46. Yeah. That's government for ya. Incompetence with power.

[Cha]

17. Wow! Even just all internet cafes.. WTF!

Good LUCK to Consuelo Zapata!

Mahalo Galraedia

[L0oniX]

42. Silly asshole Rick Scott ...putting people out of work.

[hughee99]

18. I'm not from Florida and don't know the specifics of the wording, but let me guess...

There was a somewhat minor "moral" issue (like gambling) that was tangentially tied to internet cafes. To fix "the problem" they outlawed internet cafes, and were in such a hurry to do it (because a few people gambling is such a critical thing to address) that they half-assed the language, which is only to be expected when cavemen are trying to legislate a technology they don't understand at all.

Anyone who is familiar with this issue, how'd I do?

[jmowreader]

21. You didn't do all that well, but that's okay

Florida doesn't allow casinos. The owners were running casinos and calling them Internet cafes. There is a way to ban the casino kind of Internet cafe while allowing the other kind, if you know how to write a bill. Unfortunately, I'm not sure a Republican can write his name on a blackboard much less write a whole piece of legislation.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. Bet if you ask the authors they'd say WMDs were found in Iraq.

[alp227]

26. Signed by a man who deserves to be banned from public office.

See the Medicare fraud case involving the health care corporation he led back in the '90s.

[Sunlei]

40. People running the state are scammers. All they do is steal Americans State and Federal money.

We could have had a nice healthcare system by now if it wasn't for all the political scammers squandering Americas money for their personal. private ventures.

[DeSwiss]

27. K&R

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Florida: Where the Phones are Smarter than the GOP! . . . nt

[LeFleur1]

31. And We Thought Counting was their only problem. nm

[SwankyXomb]

29. Ah, government. Always solving the wrong problem.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

33. You just couldn't help yourself, could you?

And in the process reveal a lot about yourself.

[Incitatus]

34. Of course they didn't forget to add this:

"revising conditions for exceptions to prohibitions on lotteries"

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/0155/BillText/er/PDF

You can gamble away all you want as long as the government is the house that takes the winnings.

[Tunkamerica]

36. yahoo comments suddenly went silent

it's like a ghost town.

[Conium]

38. They claim they support small businesses.

This is a fine example of RepUGLYcan hypocrisy and stupidity.

[JCMach1]

39. I find it absolutely funny that Jennifer Carol has 'disappeared' herself

and hasn't been seen since... completely gone...

on edit I take that back... the douche now has a job with the defense industry (not joking)...

[L0oniX]

41. Rick Scott = 1 term sociopath ...and they should throw out incompetent Pam Bondi too.

[truebrit71]

44. Sounds like the same bunch of geniuses that accidentally outlawed the 10 commandments...

...in their attempt to ban sharia law in Oklahoma...

Gotta love when the law of unintended consequences bites these dipshits on the arse..