FC: Good news: Appeals court says videogames protected by 1A

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Wed Jun 04 2003 - 22:52:27 PDT

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    From: "Justin Hall" <justinat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: Politech thanks; Videogames declared "speech" worthy of protection
    Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 10:31:21 -0700
    
    It was just yesterday that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declared video
    games speech worthy of first amendment protections.  It's not the first time
    games have had their "speech" status confirmed, but it is a significant
    refutation of an April ruling by Federal Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr.,
    which was covered by PoliTech: http://www.politechbot.com/p-03463.html.
    
    The timing of the Appeals court decision is important due to a new batch of
    State laws limiting specific aspects of videogame content.  Washington State
    House Bill 1009 outlaws the sale or rental of videogames depicting violence
    against law enforcement officers to under-17 minors.  So kids there aren't
    supposed to play cops and robbers with modern toys.  And this is only one
    among many similar bills emerging in Statehouses.
    
    There is already a ratings system in place for videogames, the ESRB, charged
    with limiting access to inappropriately violent titles.  It's an attempt by
    the games industry to police itself as the movie industry does.  There may
    be sporadic problems with ratings assignment or enforcement, but that does
    not make it appropriate for legislators to ban specific speech for
    consumption by specific audiences.  Parents should be able to use videogame
    ratings to decide which products are appropriate for their child.
    
    Videogames are still developing as a medium.  Hopefully these recent court
    decisions will uphold the rights of videogame developers to express
    themselves, through games; games that are to be played by adults as well as
    children.  Yes the videogame industry needs to develop more non-violent
    means of expressing action.  But if we attempt to legislate against games to
    protect children, we will limit the potential of videogames to speak to all
    people.
    
    We're tracking the various cases on Game Girl Advance:
    http://www.gamegirladvance.com/
    
    And the Program Director for the IGDA (International Game Developers'
    Association) Jason Della Rocca has a weblog where he's sharing some solid
    sober opinions with useful links: http://www.igda.org/blogs/realitypanic/
    
    Thank you Declan,
    
    Justin Hall
    
    http://www.links.net/
    
    
    
    
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