I recently viewed several hours worth of US Government comments about online poker. These were comments made before a Barney Frank committee regarding online poker. While not exactly the same, I think the substance is similar.
What I got out of it is there are misguided folks who think they are protecting kids from the evils of the world. There were Police folks there talking about the underworld corruptions and influences. Both miss the point that we want online poker to be out in the open, free from the corruption, and an option each of us makes individually, and freely.
What they are really doing is akin to the pot laws. They are creating a clandestine attitude where the kids believe there must be something inherently interesting going on for their parents to actually make it illegal. For those who avoid that subculture, there will be many who will get blindsided, and go broke once they find poker in real life.
Lack of preparation will destroy them.
I'm sick of laws getting enacted because it will protect the children. &*^# the children! That protection from real life is on par with witch hunts. As a parent if you want to 'protect' you children, YOU do it! Don't screw me, who lives thousands of miles away in some deviant scheme to protect your kid.
I would rather live in America, Land of the free and home of the brave than in Ameriqa land of the controlled, and home of the brainwashed.