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by walrus01·29d ago·view on hn ↗
So as I said, the matter gets escalated to a federal court. Texas law enforcement doesn't get to just roll into another state and start grabbing servers. Nor is another state likely to obey such an order issued by a Texas State court without it going through federal court first.

Individual state courts and legislatures, as I'm sure you know, have a lot of latitude and room for difference from other states but only within their own physical boundaries. Weed being very legal in WA and totally illegal in ID is a fine example of such. Their jurisdictions do not extent beyond their borders. There's a reason why we have federal courts, laws, and federal law enforcement agencies.

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> So as I said, the matter gets escalated to a federal court.

If it's challenged. Has that happened here? SCOTUS has already declined to get involved - implicitly ratifying Texas's statutes.

> Their jurisdictions do not extent beyond their borders.

If you break a law in Texas and flee to California, California will extradite you. The internet is the unique element here, because it's globally accessible. Our laws still exist regardless of technology.

What happens if Texas says: "Verisign: you can't do business within our borders?" They'd surely be within their rights to do that. What else can Verisign practically do but comply?

Was anyone who broke the law in texas? It's a euro porn site publishing content on servers outside of Texas. With a domain name whose ultimate root is a company in Virginia.

The fact that verisign (and various other registrars of .com) have other unrelated clients with other domain names who may be in Texas is unrelated.

> Was anyone who broke the law in texas?

Irrelevant. Texas has jurisdiction over anyone doing business in Texas, and may enforce all judgments, writs, and other decrees using third-parties who also do business in Texas (Verisign decidedly does) and typically throughout the United States.

The law isn't an autistic computer system; this isn't about "fairness." This is about "what can be enforced." This controversy is more of a political and diplomatic issue than a legal issue.

I work for an ISP and we host several LGBTQ activist sites and non profits, does the Ugandan government have jurisdiction over the company I work for because the content is illegal in Uganda?

I'm sure a creative and bigoted Ugandan government lawyer could argue that our client is "doing business" in Uganda by publishing LGBTQ content that is accessible to internet users there.

Does somebody shitposting on a php bulletin board hosted by one of our colo customers insulting the king of Thailand mean that we're subject to judicial sanction in Bangkok? Should I expect to be extradited to stand trial in Kampala? It makes just as much sense.

What power does the Ugandan or Thai government have to enforce their laws? That's really what matters - might makes right.

Does Verisign lose anything of value by being forced to stop doing business in those countries?

Texas has the power of being a member state of the United States. The Constitution grants Texas the ability to enforce its judgments throughout the lands and upon its own businesses.