Congress backtracking on Internet gambling

Some members of Congress, backed by financial institutions, are trying to enact legislation that would stop the Treasury Department from adopting regulations to enforce a federal ban on Internet gambling. The 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act calls for criminal and civil penalties for banks, credit card companies and others that process payments to gambling web sites. But the Treasury Department is having a hard time writing the regulations and the banks are balking at having to enforce the law.

The financial institutions claim it would be a nightmare to be forced to use their computerized payment systems to determine which customer activities are legal and which are not and argue they don't want to police the Internet. Legislation backed by Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, would stop the Treasury from writing or implementing regulations to carry out the 2006 law.

For more on this dispute:
- Check out this InformationWeek article