UK School District To Report On Parents Allowing Kids To Play More Mature Video Games

from the nanny-state dept

Thu, Apr 2nd 2015 10:34am — Timothy Geigner

In case you thought the nanny-state arms race was over, it isn't and, also, who were you kidding? The initiation of laws and rules made by governments desperate to protect their own people from themselves is a pastime at this point, one which has previously seen legislative and law-enforcement actions taken against wearing headphones, smoking, and allowing children to find entertainment in the form of electronics. Now, in the UK, one school district is taking matters into its own hands, stating it will report to police parents who allow their children to play video games with an R18 rating.

This declaration was made in a letter warning parents of the new policy, authored by head teacher Mary Hennessy Jones, who heads up fifteen primary schools and one secondary school in Cheshire, England.

"Several children have reported playing or watching adults play games which are inappropriate for their age and they have described the levels of violence and sexual content they have witnessed: Call Of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Dogs Of War and other similar games are all inappropriate for children and they should not have access to them. If your child is allowed to have inappropriate access to any game or associated product that is designated 18-plus we are advised to contact the police and children’s social care as it is neglectful."

The letter sent home to some parents also mentions "inappropriate" social media accounts including Facebook and WhatsApp because it could "make them vulnerable to sexual grooming and explicit images."

If this isn't sending a shiver down the spine of any parents out there, it damn well should. The idea that a school district might seek to place itself directly in between a child and a parent when it comes to parenting decisions is somewhat without precedent when it comes to the type of entertainment the child engages in. This leaves aside the question of blatantly illegal content, of course, such as child pornography and/or real-life filmed violence. This is strictly about parents who decide (or choose not to decide) what types of legal entertainment their children are allowed to enjoy. As always, this overstep traverses a bridge built with platitudes about protecting children.

Threatening parents with calls to the authorities for a child even witnessing an adult playing an adult-rated video game is bad enough. Suggesting social media access could result in the same action (the letter does not explicitly say Facebook access will lead to a call to the police, but connects "social media sites" to "these games" in the bulleted list of "actions we are advised to take") pushes this whole thing into the realm of the completely ridiculous. While some parents may feel that it makes sense to restrict their kids' access to social media and violent video games, and there is arguably a place for schools to alert parents when the appropriateness of the entertainment content to which children are exposed inside and even outside of school is questionable, implementing a zero-tolerance policy on the choices of parents about their child's entertainment is the nanny state taken to an absurd level.

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.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: nanny state, parents, uk, video games

46 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:43am

Is the EU version of ESRB ratings law or voluntary?

Because here in the US, game ratings are a voluntary system and aren't really against any laws.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:44am

WTF is "Sexual Grooming"?
Are they worried that a brothel will open up and advertise an on-site barbershop for their customer's convenience or something?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:46am

This is censorship by indirect means. The implication is do not have adult games on machines in a house with children, less the child gains access because the adult forgot to log out.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:46am

Re:
Although the rating system is voluntary in the US I think some places have laws against selling certain content to minors based on that rating system.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:47am

Well, there's someone who needs to be fired but is never going to be because people think too highly of themselves and too little of their fellow parents. They won't speak up because they don't know the person beside them, so they instantly think the worst.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:50am

Re: WTF is "Sexual Grooming"?
Orwell called the UK "Airstrip One" for a reason.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 10:53am

This leaves aside the question of blatantly illegal content, of course, such as ... real-life filmed violence

So, any of those shows about people injuring themselves doing dumb stunts?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:00am

My first call...
If I was a parent who received this letter, my first call would be to the police. I'd ask what exactly they plan on doing when the school calls to report this kind of thing. My second call would be to the author of the latter to let her know exactly why I think she is the least qualified person to make decisions for my family. My third call would be to the papers to see about publishing an OP-ED in which I take them all to task for their bullshit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Michael, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:01am

Re:
indirect?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Stephen T. Stone (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:05am

Re: Re:
California actually tried to pass a law banning the sale of ‘violent’ games to minors without parental supervision.

The legal case resulting from that law’s passage both nullified the law and gave First Amendment protections to video games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Entertainment_Merchants_Ass'n
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:10am

Pfffffft.... (or an English version of the bronx cheer)
Attention all nanny-state ninnys, reporting is to take place via pramcam.uk.gov on all potential ninnys who are expected to be trying to qualify for the exalted state of state nanny. Qualifications include automatic entrance into the most spurious report contest with all finalists gaining immediate certification. All certified state nannys shall report new ninnys at their earliest convenience, or when identified, whichever is earliest.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
hegemon13, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:11am

Re: My first call...
Agreed, except that my very first calls would be to private schools to get my kids out of that system asap.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:26am

Re: Re:
Yeah, there's definitely been lawsuits about it in California. The law was eventually overturned after a long court fight I recall.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Internet Zen Master (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:27am

...we are advised to contact the police and children’s social care as it is neglectful.

I had heard rumblings about this lunacy a couple days ago, but I was too busy playing old-school violent video games like Shadow Warrior and Duke Nukem to pay it much thought at the time.

But Christ on a motorcycle, I didn't realize it was that absurd. Contacting child care services over some kid playing an 18+ game like Call of Duty, GTA Halo? I know the UK's been a bit of a nanny-state for years now, but this is even by their standards.

That being said, I suspect a sizable chunk of the COD community probably wouldn't mind if there were less foul-mouthed primary-schoolers trash-talking them over Xbox Live because of this.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:29am

there are no school districts in the UK, this is just a group of schools, other schools next door will have different policies.

Also the police and social services will tell them to get lost, they are far too busy for this shit.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:33am

Re: Re: My first call...
My first thought would be to have a Henry Miller novel shipped to the school administrator that sent out that letter.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:38am

Re:
"Mary Hennessy Jones, who heads up fifteen primary schools and one secondary school in Cheshire, England."

So 16 total schools will be affected by this idiocy. And yeah, I expect that the police would just shrug it off, but she's still trying to scare parents into doing what she believes in the moral thing.

Personally I hope whoever is in charge of the police sends here a nice little letter detailing the punishment for filing false police reports.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:41am

Re: Re: Re: My first call...
With a note:

"Upon receiving your letter warning us of the dangers related to mature media with regards to our children, I was immediately moved by the level of your concern. Please accept this fine piece of classic literature as a token of my appreciation for the care that you provide us all."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mason Wheeler (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:47am

Re: WTF is "Sexual Grooming"?
It's a perfectly legitimate term, referring to a sexual predator carefully preparing their (usually underage) target over time to become a "willing" sexual partner. It's very creepy stuff, and if it weren't for the sexual-predator dimension, it would probably be referred to as "brainwashing".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Padpaw (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 11:53am

see something say something. or maybe this would be more appropriate to remind them what they are supporting and nearly lost against all those decades ago.

sehe was, was etwas sagen
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 12:12pm

It's more inappropriate to threaten others for doing something you dislike that has absolutely no impact on your wellbeing.

Seems she should get reported for intentionally trying to traumatize children with unfounded legal threats to cause trouble for a family. After all, who should know the child's ability to tell reality from fantasy better, a stranger or a parent?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 12:24pm

Re: Re: WTF is "Sexual Grooming"?
Except therein lies a BIG problem. Gaining the trust of a child - or anyone else for that matter (which is what you are really describing but only with more loaded language just like the term as you describe it's meaning) - is not and should not be illegal. Actually abusing children is what is illegal and rightfully should be. The problem with using hyperbolic loaded terms like that is it leads to stories like the previous one where nice people doing absolutely nothing wrong are suspected and often accused of planning horrible things because of baseless fears. That needs to stop.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wereisjessicahyde (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 12:34pm

Re:
It's complicated. We have two in the UK, PEGI and BBFC

How the EU system PEGI (Pan European Game Information)is used varies from country to country.

The rating system is compulsory in every EU state, however it is only legally enforceable in some. In the UK for example, it is illegal to sell to or for someone to purchase for - under-age people. It is a criminal offence.

Although the laws restricts sales, I do not believe it goes as far as restricting what children can play. That is supposed to be down to parental choice.

But in much of the EU it's a non-enforceable but compulsory advisory system.

This particular situation with this UK School District is very definitely not the norm and they have way over reached. I very much doubt the police would give a toss and even if they did, there's nothing they could do. Social Services - maybe, in an extreme case (as part of other problems)but not the police. They would laugh at you and probably tell you stop wasting police time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Uriel-238 (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:18pm

This is what a moral panic looks like.
Like when we didn't want kids listening to Stairway to Heaven because it included satanic messages.

Or when we didn't want kids playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons because they had the option to be Chaotic Evil and there were demons in the Monster Manual

Or when we didn't want people watching / reading The Marriage of Figaro because they... might... get... ideas... about something.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:32pm

Re: This is what a moral panic looks like.
The scary thing here is that it may be possible to enforce it now. Require all video game systems come with a video device, verify the identity of the player and if you are underage, your system will not play violent games. It's technologically possible, and politically... I wish I could say impossible, but maybe not much longer.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Spaceman Spiff (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:40pm

Back in the day
Back in the day before the Internet and personal computers or video games, when I was a young teenager, I was allowed to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Kamasutra of Vatsayana (with lots of graphic illustrations), and other classics of the genre. Did it ruin me as a man? Well, I have been married to the same woman for almost 41 years (in 5 days) and have 2 great grandchildren, so you go figure!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:41pm

Re:
Except there goes a sizable chunk of the COD community, given it is also popular with teens. After all, the games are R18, which means, by this logic permitting a 17 year old to play COD is "neglectful".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:43pm

Re: Back in the day
You were also allowed to play outside. The current world has reached an absurd level of insanity when it comes to "protecting" children.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:48pm

Re: Re: This is what a moral panic looks like.
What about games on Personal computers, or online games? The only way your proposal would work is if there are no user controlled computers available, and no access to the electronics.
If that objective was achieved, the original Dungeon and Dragons is still available, and only requires paper and dice.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wereisjessicahyde (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 1:51pm

Re: Back in the day
"I was allowed to read Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Kamasutra of Vatsayana (with lots of graphic illustrations), and other classics of the genre"

What genre would that be then? One is an ancient Hindu text, the other is an early 20th century English novel. They have almost nothing in common.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Uriel-238 (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 2:26pm

Re: Re: This is what a moral panic looks like.
I suspect that the minute Microsoft implemented its head-counting technology (so as to charge your account per viewing per head) We'd start making little dioramas to place in front of the Kinect camera that showed a lonely dog lying on the remote control.

If a console required some kind of camera-based biometrics or age verification, I suspect that the diorama technology would be similarly implemented, and that is if the biometric software couldn't be bypassed outright.

Like clocks on VCRs in the 80s, voluntary opt-in parental controls seem to be something of a mystery to typical households.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chancellor Viceroy, 2 Apr 2015 @ 2:27pm

How about this
How about teachers and administrators in the UK stop putting their dicks in students. That would be a better start.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Uriel-238 (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 2:29pm

Real life filmed violence
Also the secondary audience to all those youtube vids of police abuse.

I suspect along with those who watch such vids for the outrage factor are those who get a rush from some guy getting a beatdown.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 2:29pm

I can see the argument for getting social services involved. If you don't care enough about your 5 year olds development to stop them playing GTA then maybe you are neglecting other areas too.

The only thing the police could do is follow a parent and bust them when they buy a game for a minor but that seems like a huge waste of time.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 2:42pm

Re: Re: Re: This is what a moral panic looks like.
voluntary opt-in parental controls seem to be something of a mystery to typical households.

More like parental control requires effort, and it is much easier to force everybody else to keep the world safe for kids, by prohibiting anything that would harm them.

Should be sarcasm, but unfortunately it is not.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 3:04pm

What the fuck is "Dogs of War?" That is not a video game, lady. "God of War," perhaps?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Uriel-238 (profile), 2 Apr 2015 @ 3:50pm

She may have been referring to the Pink Floyd song.
And that's rock-and/or-roll.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 3:53pm

Re: She may have been referring to the Pink Floyd song.
Maybe it was a sloppy cut-and-paste error from an earlier moral panic over That Damn Rock Music.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 6:11pm

Re:
Question. What's more likely to be traumatic? a 5 year old seeing their daddy play GTA late at night and having a discussion on fantasy vs reality, or a 5 year old seeing their daddy play GTA late at night and being taken away by child services for it?

Hell! I'll do you one better! Is it any better if the child was >playing
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Apr 2015 @ 8:12pm

Re:
The only thing the police could do is follow a parent and bust them when they buy a game for a minor

They can even do that. Thos laws only apply to commercial entities only. Its not at all like buying cigarettes.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2015 @ 12:27am

Lock your childs in closets 24/7 incase their exposed to words and stuff, keep these folks satisfied, less incentive to believe they have the entitlement to control or run lives that are'nt singularly their own

I also frown upon such parents, but barring extreme circumstances, its none of my damn business
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Sheogorath (profile), 3 Apr 2015 @ 2:27am

In the UK, PEGI ratings that are the equivalent of 15 and 18 BBFC ratings are backed up by the latter. This makes it illegal to sell a PEGI 18 rated game to a fourteen-year-old.
In the UK for example, it is illegal to sell to or for someone to purchase for under-age people.
No. The sale to those underage is prohibited, nothing else. For example, anybody selling my ten-year-old cousin a copy of Kill Bill would be committing a criminal offence, but if I purchased a copy for her eleventh birthday, I wouldn't be arrested.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 3 Apr 2015 @ 3:13am

So this is a "nanny-state" but northkorea is an authoritian police opression dictatorship
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wereisjessicahyde (profile), 3 Apr 2015 @ 3:29am

Re:
Although I'm sure it's a mistake (they probably meant Gears of War or maybe God of War) Dogs of War is a game.

It's a free-to-play turn based strategy RPG, based on the board game "Confrontation"

http://store.steampowered.com/app/219700/
[ link to this | view in thread ]
wereisjessicahyde (profile), 3 Apr 2015 @ 8:33am

Re:
Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic insomniac? He stayed up all night wondering if there was a dog
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 6 Apr 2015 @ 7:57am

Seriously, this needs some fact checking.
1. There is no such thing as a "school district" in the UK. There are Local Education Authorities (LEAs), but this wasn't an LEA. This was a group called "Nantwich Educational Partnership". The group's Wordpress site has been deleted (wonder why...) but earlier incarnations are on wayback. http://web.archive.org/web/20141213191723/http://nantwicheducationpartnership.wordpress.com/about/
NE P seems to have been no more than an unofficial, voluntary association including schools in one particular town.
2. The letters were sent by NEP and drafted by Ms Jones. Ms Jones does not "head up 16 schools" she is the headteacher of one school (and presumably the leader of NEP). She has no authority over any other school
3.The local council (who actually have some control over what schools in their area do) issued a rather tepid statement in support. I say tepid because they state:
"Where the circumstances indicate that neglect may be involved, schools have the option of reporting the matter to police and children’s social care." and that all incidents must be judged on a case-by-case basis. See further http://thenantwichnews.co.uk/2015/04/01/council-backs-nantwich-headteachers-over-18-rated-video-game s-letter/
In other words, the schools *might* report to social services (not the police). That letter is just one foolish headteacher, drunk on her own authority over children, who thinks the same tactics will work on their parents. Her threats are about as real as "if you don't all settle down this instant, it's detention for everyone!".
[ link to this | view in thread ]