Mostly Toothless Video Game Bill Passes the Utah Legislature
from the where-are-the-regulations-against-silly-regulations? dept
The Utah legislature has seemed strangely obsessed with technology issues this session. Perhaps spurred on by a questionable BYU study on the problems created by video games, the Utah legislature has passed a bill promoted by disgraced lawyer and anti-videogame activist Jack Thompson to regulate the sale of video games to minors. The good news, as Ars Technica reports, is that the law was largely defanged during the legislative process. Under the final version of the bill, retailers would not be liable for selling M-rated video games to minors if they'd put their employees through a training program. They'd also not be liable if the children had gotten the games by lying about their age. With that said, there's still plenty to object to here. For starters, the legislation punishes retailers for failing to follow their published policy on video game sales. That means that a retailer that has a strong policy against selling to minors will face more liability if it breaks that policy than a retailer that doesn't have such a policy. This could have the perverse effect of discouraging retailers from adopting strong policies against selling violent video games to children. It will also force a lot of retailers to put their employees through "training" programs that may be completely unnecessary. But probably the most serious problem with this legislation is that it may be an opening wedge for future regulation of video game sales. Expect the same interest groups that pushed this legislation through to come back in future years with bills that would close the "loopholes" in this year's legislation.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: legislation, utah, video games
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Mormons, it is ok to say it. The push is more of a nudge really, all you have to do is put the bill on the table and because it's "protecting the children" it will get passed. These are the same kind of people who don't let their children watch R movies till they move out of the house..
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Or wear bikinis in public pools - they require girls of all ages to wear a 1-piece bathing suit because it may stimulate sex.
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Re: Re: Re: bikinis in public pools
A small town outside Salt Lake City, Utah, just banned bikinis at their public pool. Some townspeople supported the ban, but others were outraged.
One teenager girl put it eloquently: "Not being able to wear bikinis are retarded." She then added, "But string bikinis aren't cute."
The mayor also talked gallantly about "freedom of choice," but didn't seem to understand what it means, since he then added that the town should be able to ban "that which we feel is inappropriate to us." (I love how the mayor tries to talk about "individual freedoms" like it's something that he respects. Oh, but except when we don't like your freedom)
The full video is at:
http://current.com/items/89174348/small_town_bikini_ban.htm
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Forbidden fruit
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Re: Forbidden fruit
Similar case in point: I actually had some stupid woman come up to me and my wife and ask if we'd take her two 11-year-old boys into Friday the 13th. The cashier had informed her that the movie was rated 18A, and no they can't go in without a parent. The business did their job, and this woman was doing everything in her power to circumvent it.
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wonder how the game industry will react...
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Re: wonder how the game industry will react...
Because Microsoft, Sony and Microsoft refuse to license games on their system unless they are rated.
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-peace.
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