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Overtime, all this border-hopping may lead to a showdown between entrepreneurs and the forces of control at the local, domestic and international levels. But it's an open issue whether more than 200 governments can clamp down without sacrificing beneficial business experimentation. Most experts agree on one point: Within today's increasingly open electronic borders, the possibilities look pretty limitless - at least for the little guy and at least for the short-term. In the words of one lawyer familiar with the issue: "It's pretty hard to arrest an electron." WAGES OF CONFUSION Most people have heard about the benefits of regulatory arbitrage -- and the horror stories -- even if they don't know its name. For every Chinese dissident spreading his views freely from the haven of a Silicon Valley Internet server, there's a would-be gangster, money launderer or pedophile plying his trade from an indifferent island, steppe or anarchic political entity. It is the middle ground, however, where the real opportunists are staking their turf. For the likes of Vincent Cate and others, global regulatory muddles spell one thing: money. From sunny Anguilla, a British dependency, Cate runs a Web site (www.publicdata.com.ai) that provides access to various U.S. records. Many of these are mundane things like drivers' license data, but Cate's site also publishes hotter items like voter rolls and even criminal files. Some of these records are prohibited in the U.S. from being put online. Texas, for example, sells drivers' license records, but only on the condition that they not be posted on the Web, says Cate. Cate, though, operates from the Caribbean, where drug runners and sunburns are bigger concerns than Texas state troopers. Lone Star State privacy rules? Who cares. Anguilla's laws govern him. And the island has few recognizable statutes regarding disclosure of personal data, he says. Cate won't say how he gets his Texas records, but he insists his methods are legal. If Texas should get wise and turn off his data spigot, he's confident he'll find another way to gather data. Like Bennett, Cate doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. He's just profiting from global data market inefficiencies and regulatory incoherence. Privacy issues represent a classic example of these discrepancies, he says. online casino Back to casino news