I was going to say it shouldn’t matter whether they block the website because Polymarket is largely decentralized and runs on smart contracts, and so should be accessible through a third party frontend even if the main site is blocked, but it seems that they did it wrong and set things up so that all user wallets must be explicitly approved by the company to use it and so it has no properties of permissionlessness, if I am reading this right:
/// @notice Adds a new operator /// Can only be called by a current admin /// @param _operator - The new operator function addOperator(address _operator) external onlyAdmin { require(!operators[_operator], AlreadyOperator()); operators[_operator] = true; emit NewOperator(_operator, msg.sender); }I think it’s a good step while the rest of the world seems to just let it and other “prediction sites” operate. Gambling itself should be at least heavily regulated because of a variety of reasons, but this is even worse because gambling is the best possible use. The worst cases being things like betting a wildfire will start on a specific day and then… starting a wildfire. That’s closer to a website hiring hitmen, something more dark web than new tech.
Now is it a slippery slope? Maybe, especially since it’s not a direct way to stop the problem. Dark web services are there because they are illegal, they aren’t just blocked by an ISP. Laws need to clarify how much of this is gambling (which is legal in France and subject to rules) and how much of this is dangerous activity. Legally clarifying these rules is essential to a long term solution, but again I think it’s ok to take a quick first step while that process plays out.
It’s not a fucking market, it’s a gambling site and the worst type of it. Its gambling on if a human being will die, if somebody will suffer, if wars will be won or lost
This website is the absolute anus of the internet, only shit comes out of it, aside from the eventual dick head coming in
Idk, I have very little interaction with this site, but perusing just now, it seems quite innocuous. Topics seem to be some sports things (like what team will so and so be on), world events (several references to the Iran- US war, all worded in terms of when peace will be declared), and politics (looks like they think the Dems will take the house handily).
I imagine someone could get addicted to it the same way they get addicted to any gambling. But to me it seems less problematic than sports betting apps or video slots in the gas station. And as someone who has no intention of using it to gamble, I can become a bit more informed about what will probably happen in the world soon.
Betting on politics and world events is not innocuous, as if there wasn’t enough corruption already. My quick perusal showed, aside from that garbage, an entire category for air quality (gee, what could possibly go wrong there??) and a category that’s just the number of times Rich Asshole is going to tweet during set periods, like he’s not cashing in on that regularly. The rich get richer, and, to revive an ancient meme, every day we stray further from god’s light.
I don’t like the unregulated part of it regardless, but I would agree with you by principle. But only if they remove the sports betting component. I don’t know if we have data on gambling addiction to this kind on non-sports betting, but research would be interesting!
Blocking is harsh, but honestly there seem to be limited different actions that can be taken, but will not really have a great impact. These prediction markets sell themselves as putting your money where your mouth is, which sounds great on paper but without regulation opens up for a select few to do «inside trading».
Most users are still primarily using it for sports betting which is very heavily regulated. For good reason. Regulating these in the same way would be the right action but, I guess we could see if this actually will have an impact. I’m sceptical.
Only the privileged get to play these games. They’re just trying to protect the little people from those nasty millions that burden the privileged.
You do realize these prediction markets only exist to enable insiders to commit fraud and steal from morons, right? They are a scam. There is no difference between supporting them and Nigerian scammers, or the Indian call centers who target the elderly.
This is the wrong way to do things. The government should not be dictating what its citizens are allowed to access on the Internet. It seems like so many countries go after ISPs and DNS providers to solve their problems for them, and I think it’s mostly just laziness.
What France should be doing is making it illegal for Polymarket to operate in their country, and fining them for violations.
Blocking sites that are doing something not legal to do in the country is how you do things. This isn’t blocking information or anything worthwhile, just a shitty betting site that isn’t allowed to do business in the way they are doing it in France.
The move aims to enforce an existing ban on financial transactions to the site.
No, that’s not, or at least shouldn’t be and used to not be, “how you do things”. Blocking websites because they aren’t complying with national laws used to be the domain of authoritarian countries like the PRC or Thailand or Russia. Now it’s “how you do things” in so called liberal democracies? Has that really become so normalized?
This isn’t blocking information or anything worthwhile
The government should neither know nor care what its citizens access on the internet, any more than they should have control over what books its citizens read.
Censorship is censorship regardless of what is being censored.
I think it’s the nature of the site, in that anyone really determined can create a result they’ve bet upon.
Like someone dying or an industrial “accident” happening. It’s about the potential for abuse, insider trading or any host of seemingly random events that may not be so random.
I have no objection to sites like Polymarket being made illegal. That is not the argument.
I don’t approve of people using Polymarket, but I would fight for their right to access the website without censorship.
The government can declare a business like Polymarket to be illegal, that’s fine. Take action against Polymarket directly. The government dictating which sites a citizen can or cannot access is not fine. It is exactly the same as what China does with the Great Firewall.
And what happens when they refuse to pay the fine, or consider that those fines are an acceptable cost for doing business in France? If the goal is protecting the french public, blocking the site as soon as it is made illegal is the only option
Control is never relinquished voluntarily, it only expands. If the government has the power to block access to one site they will do it with more, for increasingly less justifiable reasons, until they eventually don’t bother justifying it at all.
Government censorship is not permissible in a free society, period.
Government censorship is not permissible in a free society, period.
Why?
I mean that as a genuine, serious question. Why?
I understand that Americans are raised with this as some kind of article of faith, but have you ever actually sat down and come up with a rational justification for that point of view?
There are many societies that are on all objective levels more free than tbe US, which are not absolutist on free-speech, so why do you believe that?
