6 ms·

Yes. Although obviously, there would most likely not be any consequence from doing so. This occurs more frequently in cases of sex tourism (most particularly i

Yes. Although obviously, there would most likely not be any consequence from doing so. This occurs more frequently in cases of sex tourism (most particularly in countries like Thailand), and online gambling. A few years ago at a previous employer, we had a client in Costa Rica who made online gambling applications who hired us to do an application assessment (preventing cheating and things like that); and it was only after we had started performing the assessment that I happened to inquire in a meeting with our legal department as to whether this was actually legal for us to do. As a result of that meeting, we had to stop work on the assessment immediately, and not do any invoicing, as our lawyer thought that charging for that assessment would be a pretty clear violation of the law.

dpark 14y ago
Were you doing this work in Costa Rica? Because if not, your example is completely different. You were doing work in the US that the US deems illegal. And actually, I'm not certain that your lawyers were correct in stating that the work was illegal. It's illegal to operate an online casino in the US. That's not the same as it being illegal to develop software that can be used by an online casino. If the casino in question was serving US customers, then you might be considered an accomplice in a crime. If they were only serving customers outside the US, I seriously doubt you'd be guilty of any crime.
- m0nastic 14y ago
  The work was being done in Costa Rica, onsite. And the software was used for their own online gambling site (we were testing the production site, not software that they provided to other people). I concur that it was probably a more complicated legal matter, but our counsel was pretty confident that this would have been problematic.
  - dpark 14y ago
    The comparison makes more sense, now. :) Were they allowing US customers to use their site? If so, you were might have been in a gray area. I agree with your legal dept that it could have been problematic either way. Not necessarily illegal, but not worth the hassle.

dpark 14y ago

Were you doing this work in Costa Rica? Because if not, your example is completely different. You were doing work in the US that the US deems illegal. And actually, I'm not certain that your lawyers were correct in stating that the work was illegal. It's illegal to operate an online casino in the US. That's not the same as it being illegal to develop software that can be used by an online casino. If the casino in question was serving US customers, then you might be considered an accomplice in a crime. If they were only serving customers outside the US, I seriously doubt you'd be guilty of any crime.

m0nastic 14y ago
The work was being done in Costa Rica, onsite. And the software was used for their own online gambling site (we were testing the production site, not software that they provided to other people). I concur that it was probably a more complicated legal matter, but our counsel was pretty confident that this would have been problematic.
- dpark 14y ago
  The comparison makes more sense, now. :) Were they allowing US customers to use their site? If so, you were might have been in a gray area. I agree with your legal dept that it could have been problematic either way. Not necessarily illegal, but not worth the hassle.