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So, are there any objective rankings of the average education or intelligence level of Scandanavians or Sweden/Norway vs. other parts of the world?

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I'm part Swede so maybe I can relate a bit. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Just my own wrong opinion, but I don't think the Scands are necessarily any smarter on average than anyone else. I do think they are more studious and generally better students than people in the states and more receptive to instruction. They treat their teachers as experts, hold them in high regard, and then believe and practice what they are being taught. I think this boils over into poker. They study furiously, believe what they study and then put it into practice.

Whether or not there are any collaboration schemes going on is anyone's guess. Being a technologist, I can easily envision scenarios in which a relatively modest investment could produce an untraceable collaborative virtual or physical environment.

Of course something like that is against the sites' rules and completely unethical. But it is only a problem with the sites if you get caught. The technology won't fail in this kind of setup. Only greed and stupidity would cause people to get caught.

As far as the legalities, I'm no lawyer but I would really question whether or not something like this would constitute wire fraud in the states or elsewhere. The actual transactions are taking place offshore. The enforcement would have to come from the offshore location. For the host government to get involved, they would have to be invited in by the offshore government. IMHO, this is the last thing in the world these offshore sites want, to have the US or other government get involved. It is the first step towards mass regulation, taxation, etc.

Bottom line, it is not easy but definitely possible to put together a fairly sophisticated and untraceable cheating scheme. It's like everything else in the world. Caveat emptor. Play at your own risk.